What it Takes to Run a Region
by SecretAgent12
Summary: Waydrn isn't your typical region. There's no League and Gym Leaders are only respected for entertainment and not honor. When the discovery of an old friend turned foe comes into play, they'll have to work together to fight some of the people they swore to protect and serve...or watch their home and everyone in it burn to the ground.
1. Meet the Cast

**Hey worldwide web,**

**So I've never written an individual Pokemon story before, but I really like the ideas I have for this. Just letting you guys know, this is mainly an OC-focused story with appearances from canon characters. Don't worry though, no fakemon. All OCs belong to owners who know exactly who they are. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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Waydrn was a hook-shaped landmass located southeast of Kalos. It was separated from the mainland by five-hundred miles of ocean, a great enough distance for it to be its own territory. A lone mountain jutted out from the center, diving the region into several different climate zones. Tropical forests dominated the southern island, a frigid wasteland snaked through the north spiral. Further east, the region broke apart into hundreds of small islands. This diverse environment allowed Pokémon from all over the world to migrate to Waydrn and live. This came at a price, because Waydrn had no new Pokémon to set it apart from the rest of world.

Waydrn was also dotted with many towns and cities, all producing goods and services to benefit the region as a whole. People lived peaceful and independent lives. Of course, they always had someone watching over them. Nine Gym Leaders had been given the task of looking over the region twelve years ago, and they continued to fulfill their duties even if the citizens of Waydrn preferred to stay independent. They had no Elite Four, and power was distributed evenly between the eight Gyms.

In Forêt City, a young man stood atop a large pink flower. Most of his body was covered by a green cloak, but he wore running shoes and a quiver of arrows was slung over his back. He animatedly ordered his Pokémon, a Vileplume, into battle against his challenger's Rhydon. The air was thick with pollen and flower petals as the Ground/Rock-type stumbled across the lush green battlefield. It collapsed on the ground a few minutes later. The challenger's shoulders slumped forward as the referee had declared the winner. The young man shouted words of encouragement to the loser and made her promise to challenge him again. He then realized the camera was focusing on him, causing him to get flustered and fix his spiked up brown hair.

**Chase the "Forest Guardian" – Cherrim, Gourgeist, Leafeon, Venusaur, Parasect, Vileplume**

**_Floral Badge – _**_He may seem like a pushover, but he'll stay firmly rooted in his spot as he shows you Grass-types aren't to be taken lightly._

The Gym Leader of Kioo City stood confidently in front of the two square feet of earth. Small gemstones glittered in the light from her headlamp. She carefully plucked them from their spot in the cave floor. She heard footsteps, and the telltale noise of a Sableye jumping to a hiding spot. Of course it had decided to sneak up on her, she was barely over the age of fourteen and looked like no physical threat. Big mistake. Wiping the dirt smudges off of her face, she released her Carbink into the air to flush out the Sableye with a Moonblast. Grinning as the Darkness Pokémon hissed and ran, she made sure to pocket the gems before leaving.

**Anna the "Gemstone Expert" – Gigalith, Crustle, Aurorus, Lunatone, Aerodactyl, Carbink**

**_Jewel Badge – _**_The only thing stronger than her love for gemstones is her ability to shine bright in even the roughest of battles._

An Altaria stormed through Naga City, screeching in anger at the people below. It locked in on a bus full of tourists and prepared a Dragon Pulse. The Gym Leader: a tall, lanky guy dressed in khakis and a sweater vest, jumped in front of the bus and pulled out a flute. He blew a few notes out of the wooden instrument. Entranced, the Altaria landed in front of him. Silently, he put three fingers to his lips and then clawed at the air with them. The Flying/Dragon-type nodded and bowed her head. The Gym Leader smiled and pressed an Ultra Ball to her head. She disappeared inside as an approaching crowd applauded.

**Jimmy the "Master of Dragons" – Altaria, Hydreigon, Flygon, Garchomp, Goodra, Druddigon**

**_Draco Badge _– **_James, or Jimmy if you happen to be well acquainted, strikes with a ferocity to match the fiercest of Dragon-types. Even faeries hesitate when facing him._

The fourth Gym Leader stared out the window of his penthouse, looking down at the bustling streets of Extraordinärt City. He turned away from the window and began undoing his bow-tie. His Porygon-Z zoomed around the apartment, looking for files to store in the super-computer he called a PokéDex. PZ, as the Gym Leader preferred to call it, took his briefcase and set it down so he could relax. It had been another successful business deal, and he had once again bought out his rival company. He couldn't help but smirk. People always underestimated sixteen year olds. The Gym Leader sipped a glass of water and stared at the clock. Maybe he had time for a challenger.

**Sam the "Sarcastic Gadfly" – Dunsparce, Blissey, Lopunny, Zangoose, Pyroar, Porygon-Z**

**_Unique Badge – _**_Average? Ordinary? Sam knows no such words. Instead he hears adaptable and unpredictable, both of which you'll experience when fighting him._

The lock on the Gefroren City Gym froze solid, allowing the Gym Leader inside to have some peace and quiet. She was beginning to regret making her Gym an ice palace. Fans had been storming the doors every day since that wretched movie had come out, begging for an autograph from a real "Ice Queen." Pfft, she wasn't even blonde! Nor did she wear a blue dress. She examined herself in the mirror which was, like almost everything else in the main room, ice. A sad girl in a white skirt and blouse stared back at her. The girl nervously squeezed the royal blue scarf around her neck. There was another bang at the door as some idiotic fan tried to bust his or her way through. She threw up her hands in annoyance and stormed out of the room to go change.

**Pika the "Ice Queen" – Glaceon, Jynx, Cloyster, Weavile, Glalie, Mamoswine**

**_Subzero Badge – _**_Pika handles battles the same way she handles life: with a cold wit and determination. She'll make your Pokémon shiver on the spot._

They stood at the Gym Leader's end of the battlefield in their matching outfits, how precious. The guy wore glasses and was taller than his girlfriend, the blonde with a bandana in her hair. They wore yellow and black jumpsuits and mad grins on their faces. The challenger simply shrugged and sent out his Primeape and Yamask. A Pokéball flew from each of their hands, releasing a Lanturn and a Galvantula. The two Gym Leaders shouted a volley of commands, which their Pokémon obeyed with lightning fast speed. The challenger barely reacted to his Pokémon being fainted on the spot, and struggled to keep up. By the end of the battle he had managed to faint none of their Pokémon and the timer on the wall read "1 Minute, Three Seconds".

**Joos and Amanda the "Electric Power Couple" – Lanturn, Galvantula, Luxray, Electivire, Ampharos, Eelektross.**

**_Battery Badge – _**_Who says only opposites attract? Joos and Amanda both maintain high energy and stunning displays during their battles. They're always guaranteed to be…shocking._

The residents of Spéir City, and a few tourists, gasped as the beloved Gym Leader threw herself off the roof of the tallest building. She did a swan dive towards the cement. People were crying out in fear, until a large Togekiss swooped down and caught her on her back. The Gym Leader gave the crowd a cheeky grin and they burst into applause. Togekiss flew back up, allowing the girl to dance atop her wings. As she twirled atop the Fairy/Flying-type, she remembered not to look down. Losing her balance and falling meant nothing, as the other five Flying-types were watching her from hidden points around the city, but it would sure look bad for her image. Togekiss flew back down so the crowd could get a better view. Everyone was cheering and laughing. The Gym Leader smiled to herself. Oh yeah, it had been such a good idea to wear the tank top and shorts instead of the hideous Sky Trainer suit.

**Grace the "Flying Wonder" – Noivern, Pidgeot, Honchkrow, Crobat, Yanmega, Togekiss**

**_Headspin Badge – _**_Hope you're not afraid of heights, because Grace can't seem to keep her feet on the ground. But her head stays out of the clouds so she's always in the sight of victory._

The Gym Leader of Maremoto City peered up at the glass dome of his gym. Barely any light filtered through the depths of ocean to reach him, so he had organized a school of Lumineon to stay near the Gym with the help of his own. Their bioluminescent fins gave an eerie glow to approaching Trainers, and all the indoor lighting was designed by Joos and Amanda at the Electric Gym. There were no challengers today, leaving him alone with his thoughts. Changing out of his wetsuit and into shorts, a T-shirt, and boat shoes, the Gym Leader examined his Dex. It was that time of the month again, the time where he would have to leave his underwater dome and journey to the surface. He had about three hours before he had to leave, and it was going to be a long ride there.

**Green the "Keeper of the Waves" – Mantine, Sharpedo, Tentacruel, Crawdaunt, Lumineon, Seismitoad**

**_Tempest Badge – _**_The road to the top is a tough one, and Green does his best to make it tougher. He'll come crashing down on you like a wave in the most violent of seas. Keep your guard up or you might end up marooned at the Pokémon Center._

The nine of them changed into traveling clothes. Fancy costumes and extravagant getups wouldn't be needed where they were going. Every month they'd have to brave the journey and fulfill their duties as Gym Leaders. Clouds began to darken and rumble over the vast ocean. There was no time to be afraid of the rain; Forum Island awaited them.

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**Just an introductory chapter to start out, and the story line actually begins next chapter. Reviews are appreciated, and until then, see ya!**


	2. The Meeting

**Hey worldwide web,**

**We have a second chapter, some actual plot, and the reveal of another character (as if we didn't have enough already XD). Anyway, thanks to everyone that read last time. I try and respond to reviews through private messaging, and if I didn't it wasn't on purpose.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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Forum Island was coming closer into view. Joos adjusted the speed of the bright yellow jet plane and steadied it out. Amanda clutched the main controls tightly. The storm was blessing and a curse for their prized aircraft. The constant lightning strikes allowed it to be powered without fuel (which did wonders for the environment) and go extremely fast. Unfortunately, the cascading sheets of rain made it a tad unstable.

"How are our passengers?" Amanda asked, not taking her eyes off the island. Joos looked over his shoulder. The Electric duo had picked up two other Gym Leaders who were unable to get to Forum Island on their own. Pika and Chase sat in the passenger section, quite a distance from another. Pika was reading a book and Chase was wrapping his green traveling cloak tighter around him. Being an Ice Trainer, Pika often lowered the temperature of a room by several degrees, and a small enclosed space was no better. The Grass Leader was too polite to say anything and simply bundled up.

"They're fine," Joos finally answered. The jet was now at Forum Island. It was a decently sized island, shaped like an upside down mushroom. They were now passing over the beach. The soft sand abruptly turned into dense jungle, then marshland, and then jungle again. They're destination was the Forum Tower. It was twelve stories high and cylindrical, with a cone shaped roof. Sticking out of the point was the Waydrn flag, a blue cloth with a cluster of almonds and the phrase _'Welcome ad nut domus' _or 'Welcome to the Nuthouse'.

"You know, I've never actually seen a landing strip on this island," Pika called up to them. "How exactly do you plan on landing this thing?" She got her answer when Amanda and Joos exited the cockpit, mad grins on their faces. They each took a seat. Joos typed a few coordinates into his Dex. Suddenly, thick seat-belts wrapped around the four of them. Walls unfolded, separating each seat in its own compartment. The jet began to increase in speed.

"Guys..." Chase said nervously. He looked out the window. The large central tower that jutted out of the dense jungle was getting close. The plane inclined to an almost completely vertical ascent.

"3...2...1!" The floor of the plane opened up, dropping the four passengers down towards the top of the tower. Chase couldn't even catch his breath long enough to scream. Pika, while caught off-guard, maintained her stone-cold disposition and waited for the ride to be over.

"We can go faster than this!" Amanda urged. Joos shook his head and pointed to the accelerometer. Amanda sighed. _Too bad citizens can't survive faster than 4g. _They were approaching the tower. A panel in the roof slid open and they slowed down the descent of the capsules. They landed gently on the top floor.

"That was awesome!" Joos whooped as they climbed out of the capsules. "I can't believe we all survived on the first try!" He high-fived Amanda. Pika and Chase shook their heads at the thrillseekers.

Amanda looked around. The circular room was empty. She wiped some dust off one of the windows. "I've never actually seen the top of this tower. It's kind of- Oh my god it's an elevator!" She rushed over to the machine and put her ear up to the door. "And it's in perfect condition too. Want to see how fast we can hot-wire it to go above safety-protocol speeds?" She asked Joos.

"You know I do!" They threw themselves at the machine and began to pry it open.

"We'll just take the stairs," Chase said awkwardly, heading with Pika towards the spiral staircase. They made their way to the conference table on the meeting floor. Nine chairs sat in a circle, each one with a badge symbol etched in the back. Amanda and Joos sat in the chairs marked by batteries. Pika sat next to Joos, the thermometer symbol lighting up as she sat down. Chase found the chair with a bouquet symbol directly across from everyone else. Five more people still needed to show up.

Anna was the first. She materialized in a flash of brilliant light, a blue shiny Teleport Gem in her hand. She smelled like the gemstone polish she worked with on a daily basis. With a small wave to her colleagues, she took her seat next to Chase.

"It seems Grace, Jimmy, and Green haven't arrived yet," Sam said, making them all jump. He seemed to have appeared out of oblivion, not that anyone was going to question it. He sat down next to Pika, an amused look on his face. He pointed to a window. They all turned and saw Grace and Jimmy flying on their Togekiss and Hydreigon. The two Pokemon made attempts to slam the other one off course, but their Trainers kept a steady grip on them. Grace looked apologetically towards Jimmy, who just shrugged. The windows opened to accept them.

"Oh this storm is awful," Grace complained as Togekiss began to preen herself. She returned the giant marshmallow blimp and sat next to Amanda. Jimmy took his spot between Anna and Sam. "Hey, where's Green?"

"Right there." Green entered the room through the staircase. "What?" He asked. "None of you bothered to come in through the front door?" He shook his head in teasing disappointment, sending water droplets all over the place, and sat between Chase and Grace. "Lovely weather. I think I might go swimming later." The others looked at him. And they were the weird ones? They still had a few minutes before the meeting had to start, so they chatted with one another.

"How's the Safari Zone?" Green asked Chase.

"It's been better," Chase admitted. "A Persian and her cubs attacked some Venusaur and that was a mess. I can handle most pollen, but that stuff was hazardous. Luckily we-"

"I just did the coolest show today!" Grace interrupted, shaking Green's arm excitedly. "I jumped off a building and everyone was like 'oh no, Grace we love you,' and I was all 'ha, I'm not dead'!" She continued speaking animatedly about her show. Chase just shrugged and stared at the table.

"I think I found something you guys could use," Anna explained to Joos and Amanda. "She pulled a shiny green shard out of her pocket. "It's a piece of a Thunderstone. We always find broken ones down in the mines, but never anything whole. Still though, they're conductive and contain enough radiation to power your stuff with no known side effects."

Joos took the shard and held it in his palm. "This might work, and it really fits with the Electric-type theme we're going for. What do you think?" He handed it to Amanda.

"We'll have to run some tests," the blonde concluded. "To see how big of explosions it makes, if it's loud when it's used, etc. Other than that, I think we're good. Great job Anna!"

"Turns out the deal with Silph Co. was a bust," Sam told Pika and Jimmy. "They're so break they can't even afford to produce Pokéballs anymore. Luckily I was able to convince Devon Corp. to fund the Dex Project."

"Well that's good," Pika replied. "I take it they were impressed?"

Sam laughed. "All I had to do was show them the team prediction function and they were more than impressed. Everyone wanted to sponsor it, but I had to go with the highest bidder. The representative from Fennel Inc. nearly had a heart attack when Mr. Devon won the bid."

Jimmy nervously organized the stack of papers he had brought for the meeting. He hoped he wasn't forgetting anything. As the record's keeper it was his job to make sure all of the approved documents were brought to the table.

"Ahem," Pika said. She pressed a hand on the table and it lit up. She typed in the pass-code. "Shall we call this meeting to order?"

You knew the meeting had begun when the Pokemon were sent out. Vileplume, Druddigon, Mamoswine, Ampharos, and Togekiss stood stoically behind their trainers. Carbink and Porygon-Z floated next to our above their trainers, trying not to be a distraction. Eelektross coiled himself around Joos's waist, looking like the world's most hideous, ahem, badass belt. Seismitoad, forgetting he was no longer a Tympole, tried to sit on Green's lap.

"Sorry big guy," Green said, gently pushing Seismitoad off of him. Seismitoad grumbled in disappointment and stood behind the chair. It was then that they noticed nobody had bothered to turn the AC on, and it was starting to get stuffy. Green opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. A guy about Jimmy's age walked in. He was dressed in an orange hoody and grey shorts, contrasting against his dark skin. He glared at them all.

"I'm the new gym leader in town, fear my power!" The nine actual Gym Leaders stared at the intruder.

"Jimmy, you're friend broke into the League headquarters...again," Green said with an exasperated sigh. The others relaxed when the realized who the stranger was. This had all happened before, just never on the island.

Jimmy rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Uh George, you aren't a Gym Leader."

"What?!" George said. "But you _promised_you'd make me supreme overlord of the region by now." He folded his arms over his chest and began to pout.

Jimmy thought for a moment. "Don't worry. You can be...uh...the League...Hall Monitor?" The others face-palmed, and George glared at him. "How about the _Official_League Hall Monitor?"

George was silent for a few seconds. "Okay!" He then said cheerfully. "Which hall should I monitor first?"

"Uh..." Jimmy's voice trailed off. How was he going to explain that there were no halls in a cylindrical tower? "Actually, I've got a special top secret mission for you. But you have to keep it a secret. There's a nest of Ratticate down in the basement and they're a threat to all of the region." George's eyes widened. Jimmy tossed a Dusk Ball to him. "Take Goodra down there and do what needs to be done." George nodded and saluted him before running towards the basement.

"That actually worked," Anna said, mildly impressed.

Jimmy beamed. "Well it just took some quick thinking. Nothing should go wrong-" There was a muffled explosion, followed by George declaring, "I AM A GOD OF DESTRUCTION!" to the poor Ratticates in the basement. "Maybe we should just start the meeting." The others nodded in agreement.

Pika continued to type onto the table. She was no doubting putting the interrupting into the minutes. "I believe it was Green that called us to the island, am I correct?"

Green nodded. "Thank you all for braving the weather to come and meet tonight. As you are aware, our monthly meeting was just last week. We discussed the plans of building a parking lot in part of the Safari Zone-"

"Objection!" Chase cried. "Building a parking lot would destroy the habitats of dozens of different species, make us all look like total douchebags, and-"

"Which was shot down immediately by Chase," Green interrupted before Chase could gain enough momentum to continue. The Grass Gym Leader sat back down, embarrassed. "After the parking lot discussion, Master James was going to bring up a recent discovery of his to our attention. Master James, if you'd be so kind as to refresh our memories."

Jimmy blushed at the title. Master stirred up a lot more grandeur than it should have, especially if Dragon was the word it followed. Jimmy, or rather James, was the youngest of the Blackthorn family. The Blackthorns were Dragon Tamers from Johto, but James left his home region at an early age to become stronger. Now the strongest of the seven heirs, he was the most talented Dragon-type Trainer in the region. Jimmy typed in a few keys and set a scroll down on the table. The paper had coffee stains on it and there was a tear in the corner. Its text was projected for everyone to see.

"This scroll is written in twelve different languages," he explained, "written backwards, and then encrypted seven times." Sam whistled, impressed. "After I reflected it, I discovered that I only knew three of the twelve languages." The others nodded in understand when several lines were highlighted. Several phrases were in English, a couple lines in Unown, and there were a few words that stood out as the ancient language of the Draconids. "Anyway, it seems to be a deed/will of sorts. It's addressed to the present members of the Pokemon League." He was sweating now. They all leaned forward to hear what he had to say.

"Who's it from?" Anna asked.

Jimmy took a deep breather. "It's from May F.B., the last Champion of the Waydrn Region."

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**Ha, cliffhangers.**


	3. The Last Words of May FB

**Hey worldwide web,**

**Back again, and this time I promise I'm not ending it on a cliffhanger. So many things are kept in the dark that it wouldn't be fair to do that for the third time in a row. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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The tension was so thick you could cut it with a Honedge. Kidding. Just because they live with Pokemon doesn't mean all of their analogies and old wise sayings have to reference Pokemon. Right, back to the story. Carbink hid behind Anna's chair and had to be coaxed back to the table. Porygon-Z retreated into Sam's Dex and refused to come out. The Pokemon weren't used to feeling such anger and hurt from their Trainers at the mere mention of a name. Sam's eyes narrowed.

"May F.B.," he repeated. "The same May F.B. that nearly destroyed all of Waydrn in the last rebellion, and then had the _nerve _to make us pick up all the pieces?" Porygon-Z wasn't sure how to react, which was making Sam's Dex go haywire. "PZ, knock it off!" He said sharply, making them all jump. PZ exited the Dex and floated humbly behind him.

"That would be correct," Jimmy replied, patting Druddigon to calm him.

"Do we really want to listen to what she has to say?" Joos grunted. Eelektross had tightened around his waist and his girlfriend was trying to coax it into releasing him. "I mean, she was bad news back in the day." Amanda nodded in agreement.

"She probably just wanted to rub it in our faces that she got the last laugh," Chase suggested with a hurt tone, wrinkling his nose at the excess pollen Vileplume was admitting. He then smiled a bit. "Or so she thought."

"Why would she make a will?" Anna asked, venom on her tongue. "It's not like she was _expecting _to die."

"Or maybe she was," Pika said calmly. They all stared at her. Mamoswine nudged her chair with his tusks. "My esteemed colleagues, and, although I don't say this often, dear friends; we cannot let our past grievances steer our future actions. What good will it do to speak ill of the dead? May was tasked with a decision, and she made the wrong choice. Afterwards she made many more choices which in her eyes were the right choices, but in ours the wrong ones. She got what she deserved when she took on Lance by herself. Or did you all forget watching the broadcast of her death on TV?" They're memories drifted back to when they were young, too young to be the Gym Leaders they were today. The sight of the glorious Champion cheated out of a victory and then her life had left a lasting impression in their minds. They had all been so young at the time. Pika continued, knowing they were listening now. "Jimmy, please read the scroll. Whatever May needed us to know, we must know it."

Jimmy unrolled the parchment. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "This is what it says…"

_Dear future Gym Leaders of Waydrn,_

_If you are reading this, it means I am dead. I trust you are not mourning this, as asking you to feel sorry for me would be too much._

_It is with the deepest regret that I must inform you...I screwed up big time._

"No duh," Amanda muttered. Ampharos flashed her tail light in concern.

_I have no guarantee of who you all are. If I'm lucky then this will is being read by Chase, Anna, James, Sam, Pika, Joos, Amanda, Grace, and Green._

_If I am not so fortunate, which I deserve without a doubt, then so be it._

"Does this have a point?" Joos asked. He breathed a sigh of relief as Eelektross loosened his grip.

_The Gym Leaders you nine have replaced were foolish and cowardly._

"As if she has any right to say that!" Anna snapped.

"Sit down," Pika said coldly. "She was never good at saying sorry." She added, "And to be fair, she's correct."

_You are to be different. You must repair what I have broken. You can choose two paths to do this._

_1\. Make amends with the rest of the world and hope they forgive you._

_OR_

_2\. Select a new Champion._

"Absolutely not!" Chase, Grace, and Sam shouted in unison. Green knew this was coming. Ever since the death of May, and the flight of the other league members, Waydrn had been forced to go without an Elite Four or a Champion. Selecting a new Champion would mean the power would be given to one person...and if they chose the wrong person...

"There's more," Jimmy added. "One last bit that I think is the most important.

_Finally, you must locate the League's vault. It is hidden somewhere under the island. You'll find someone down there of great importance to me and to you._

_Down there you'll find...my child._

* * *

They all sat in silence, staring at the will. Jimmy was the only one that wasn't surprised (he had been translating the thing for weeks). The last words of the will seemed to stand out above the rest.

"Did she say a child?" Grace said breathlessly. "As in she had a baby and then left it down in a vault?!"

"We don't know that," Chase pointed out. The turn the meeting had taken made him nervous. A real child could be in danger…but did they really have any reason to trust May?

"It says it right there on the will!" Grace jumped out of her seat. "We have to go down there. May wasn't stupid to begin with; the baby might still be alive."

"And it will also no longer be a baby," Amanda told her. "We don't know if we're interpreting this right. Maybe it's a metaphor-"

"Or a trap," Anna said darkly. The others looked at her. "What? I'm just making sure we have all of our bases covered. If you guys want to go running down to wherever this vault is and maybe get killed that's fine by me. But don't say I didn't warn you."

Green coughed loudly. "Let's take a vote. There's an odd number of us so there won't be a tie. All in favor of ignoring the will and moving on with the meeting please raise your hand." Anna's hand shot up. Sam's reluctantly followed.

"I hate to play devil's advocate, but we don't know if we can trust her." Nobody else raised their hands.

"It's settled," Green said. "We're going to the vault." They all rose out of their seats and returned their Pokemon. "Jimmy, you have the will and the instructions. Lead the way."

Jimmy looked at them awkward. "It…er…doesn't say where the vault is." They all slumped back into their chairs. "I'm sorry guys, but I deciphered everything. There's no instructions to where the vault could be."

Anna sighed. "So we can't find this kid, even if it really is a kid?"

Green shook his head. "I have no clue where the vault is. To be honest, I didn't even know there was a vault. But if there's a child in need of help, it's our job to go and find him or her."

"But how can we do that without knowing where the vault thingy is?" Grace complained. "If it's a League vault, shouldn't we have heard of it before?"

"Of course," Pika said coolly. "Why don't we just open up the book of handy dandy pamphlet of instructions our predecessors left for us? We can also break open the celebratory bottle of champagne they gave us as a welcoming present."

Grace stared at her in shock. "There was champagne? How come I never got any-"

"It was sarcasm you insufferable airhead," Pika interrupted. Green held up his hand, and they both continued to hate on one another in silence.

"This will be a lot easier if we work together," he explained. He typed a few words onto his Dex. "Jimmy, I need you to fly to the mainland and return the scroll to the university. I've also sent you a list of three replacement Gym Leaders that will serve in our absence. We may be her for a while. You, Grace, and I are the only ones that can directly go from this island to the mainland. Fortunately it's not League season so we only need three replacements. Do you think you can do that?"

"You know I can," Jimmy said courageously. He sent out Druddigon. The rain outside had been reduced to a small pitter-patter. The windows opened up and Jimmy mounted his signature Pokemon. "Keep George out of trouble," he said before taking off into the sky. The remaining eight weren't sure what to do now.

Joos was the first to get up. "There's got to be some control system or power grid that runs the tower. Maybe I'll find some schematics that can tell us where the vault is located." Amanda pulled out her Dex.

"I'm trying to contact Josh back at the Gym," She explained. "He can manage it while we're here, and I'd like him to get us a supply drop as soon as possible."

"Good idea," Green said. "I think I'll head back to the mainland to make sure everything else is in order. It's not that I don't trust Jimmy, it's just easier if two people do it." He walked towards the stairs with Amanda and Joos. "The rest of you need to be searching for the vault. This island is huge and it'd be foolish to assume it can only be connected to the tower." With that, he went down to the first floor.

Anna typed a few words onto the table. A holographic map of the island appeared. They noticed it was blank and only resembled Forum Island in shape. "I can do some scanning to find pockets of air under the surface where an underground vault may be. I'll send the locations to you if you want to go search."

"There's so much of this island we haven't even seen," Pika said coldly. "We've gone here once a month for the past five years and we haven't set foot outside this tower. We were too angry, too spiteful. And now we're finding things that we aren't ready for." She got up and pushed in her chair. "Anna, send the first location. I'm going to see just what else is on this island. The rest of you can come with if you'd like." The guys shrugged and followed her out of the tower. After a bit of reflection, Grace decided to follow them as well.

* * *

Green sat in front of the man at his desk, trying to resist the urge to kill himself. The secretary was droning on about his most recent romantic conquests when all Green wanted to do was file a report. He should have just told the man he had an appointment or pulled out his league badge, but _no, _he had to be nice and follow the rules.

"So she ended up being a real bitch in the end," he said. "But hey, she had a pretty nice ass. Oh, and there was this one time-" Okay, now he wasn't even typing on his computer.

"Listen," Green squinted to read the name-tag, "uh, Eddie. Not that your story isn't a riveting tale, but I really need to speak to Maggie."

Eddie scoffed. "You can't just 'speak to Maggie'." Green cringed at Eddie's attempt to replicate his accent. "Everyone wants to speak to Maggie. She's the leader of the Officer Jennies. She's the only one they don't call Jenny! But as secretary of the Waydrn Officer Jenny Police Force, I can't just let you speak to her. It'd be against everything I stand for. Plus, some of the officers like taking me with them for drinks when I do my job properly." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Green groaned. He hated playing this card. "I'm Green, Gym Leader of Maremoto City and Keeper of the Waves." Eddie's eyes widened. "If you don't let me speak to Maggie I _will _cite you for impeding the work of League officials."

Eddie sighed in defeat. "Freaking Gym Leaders, thinking they can push us civilians around. Things were so much better when the Elite Four was still in office." He shot Green one last dirty look before buzzing him in.

_If only you knew the truth about those cowards_, Green thought with a smirk as he entered Maggie's office. The head Officer Jenny was leaning back in her chair, bored as hell.

"Thank God you showed up," she said to him. "There's no crime going on in Waydrn and I was *this* close to opening up the jail just to have something happen. What can I do for you?" Green sat down in front of her and twiddled his thumbs, thinking of how to word his request.

"I'd...um...like to request the opening of someone's medical records," he said finally.

"Ooh, digging up some dirt on someone," Maggie said with a wink. "Sounds fun. I can totally get them for you." She began to type the request on her Dex. "Who's the lucky lady that you're looking up?" Green felt his face turn red.

"Uh...May F.B." Maggie dropped her Dex. "Come on, it's not that bad. I have a really important reason for this."

Maggie shook her head. "Green, you know this is a bad idea. I've been pretty lenient with you and the rest of your League friends so far. I don't ask many questions, I usually look the other way, and I'm one of the few public officials that support you. But this I can't ignore. May's privacy is held higher than everyone else's."

"She was a traitor!" Green spat, letting his anger get the best of him.

"And she's a hero to everyone else," Maggie said, keeping her cool. "Look Green, I could maybe get her records unsealed. But there's absolutely no way you or any of the Gym Leaders would ever be allowed to see them." She shrugged. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Green mumbled. He got up and turned to leave.

"What's going on?" Maggie asked as he reached for the door. "Why the sudden interest in May?"

"You wouldn't understand," Green said simply. And she wouldn't. Nobody but the other eight people he was forced to share a fate with could. May F.B., the most controversial figure in history, had a child and left it in a tunnel for twelve years. And now it was up to them to track down the kid and its father. If he couldn't get into her hospital records to know the father, he'd have to approach this the difficult way: DNA test. Of course that would have to require a sample from the kid and the potential father, assuming he was even alive. Green sent out Mantine and climbed onto his back. It was times like this that he hated being the leader.

...

Jimmy mounted Druddigon and took off from Naga University. He had stored the scroll safely in his private library and now had to recruit the three back-up Gym Leaders. Green's lists described who they were and what cities they'd be located in: Kioo, Extraordinärt, and Gefroren. Jimmy trusted Green to know what he was doing and was pretty sure these Gym Leaders would be competent enough to do their job.

* * *

"How much farther?" Grace said in a half-whine. The three Gym Leaders in front of her turned back to stare. "Not that I don't _love _hiking through uncharted wilderness, but wouldn't it just be easier to fly above the island?"

"But doesn't hiking make you feel like your getting the full experience?" Chase sighed. "The whole island's alive if you really stop and look at it." He motioned to a pack of Mankey swinging through the trees, and then to a Vivillion resting on a branch. Sam snapped photos with his Dex.

"Yeah, if it weren't for the fact that we've been at this for two hours and we've found _nothing_." The last two locations they had explored were an underground lake and a Zoroark den. Anna had given them the third and final location. Grace continued to grumble something incoherent. Pika held up her hand and stopped, causing them all to run into each other.

"The path continues into that clearing," she explained. "I suspect we'll find something there. But first, why is it a bad idea to continue?"

"I know, I know!" Chase said, raising his hand.

"You don't have to raise your hand," Pika told him in a monotone.

"Oh...right. There's an Ariados waiting up in that tree." Their eyes all shot up towards the canopy. They couldn't see anything. "Do you guys not see it? It's kind of obvious. I mean, we're literally right in front of it's web." Sam's eyes narrowed as he tried to figure it out. Grace just look bored.

Pika was smirking. "This is why we need to start working as a team. Let me guess, you don't trust Chase's judgement." Sam and Grace exchanged awkward glances.

"It's not that we don't trust him," Sam said, choosing his words carefully. "But how is he so sure there's an Ariados?"

Pika sighed. "We'll discuss our relationships with one another later, but I'll sum it up for you." She then paused. "Actually Chase, why don't you explain why there's an Ariados."

Chase tensed up. "Oh, well, if nobody else sees it then maybe I'm wrong. At least, I think there's an Ariados." Pika frowned. "Sorry...there is an Ariados. That's its web." He pointed to the vines that crossed over the path. "They aren't vines, they're webbing. If they were actual plants I'd be able to tell. Ariados silk is known for being able to absorb all forms of light, making it a sharp white. White string in a green jungle is pretty visible, so Ariados forms a symbiotic relationship with moss. The moss sits on the silk, which is almost always positioned in areas with sunlight, and gives it the appearance of vines. The moss gets sunlight, rain water, and any other materials collected by the web. It's a win-win." They stared at him. He blushed. "What? Did I say something stupid?"

"On the contrary, your explanation was spot on," Pika told him. She turned to her companions. "Chase's Gym is located in Forêt City. That's the same city the Safari Zone is located, which just happens to be run by his family. In short, he's been around plants and Pokemon his whole life, so there's no more need to question his authority on this matter than my authority on the exact temperature at which your blood will freeze in its veins." She examined the web. "The Ariados has without a doubt spotted us and is now on the move." She removed an Ultra Ball from her belt and tossed it in the air. Her Jynx materialized on the ground.

"Jynx jynx," the Ice/Psychic-type said cheerfully, reaching out to hug Pika.

"We don't have time for that Stella-Maris," Pika said. "We'd like you to freeze those vine-like webs for us." Stella-Maris nodded and turned to face the web. She blew a big gust of frost, making the webbing brittle and hard. "Thank you." She returned the Jynx.

"Stella-Maris?" Grace said, unimpressed.

"Well I figured I should deviate from the norm of 'Frostitute' and 'Nicki Minaj'." Pika tossed back her hair and began to ran through the web, ducking under each piece of frozen silk. The others followed, cautiously looking out for the Ariados. They made it to the clearing safely, but were now energized from the cold. Pika brushed the dirt off of her knees. "We made it." Indeed they had.

* * *

**This chapter's kinda iffy for me. In my original draft these events came much later, but I figure I'd switch it around because we have character introductions and I don't want them to all be in succession. So the Gym Leaders have split up and have a chance to sort of develop and interact in smaller groups. We also got to see, for a short while, the workings of the rest of Waydrn. Eddie's comment about Gym Leaders isn't an uncommon view among the people, and it'll be expanded on in the future.**

**Notes on Maggie: She's head of the Waydrn police force, and as such she isn't called Jenny. Nothing more than a minor character, but she's a good asset to the Gym Leaders, now more than ever.**

**Next chapter the Gym Leaders continue they're search for the vault and May's child. Another quick thing, this isn't the same May as in the games because...well...you'll see why eventually :) Reviews are appreciated, and I'll see you next time.**


	4. The Vault

**Hey worldwide web,**

**Back again, and this time I promise I'm not ending it on a cliffhanger. So many things are kept in the dark that it wouldn't be fair to do that for the third time in a row. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

"Oh look, more underground stuff," Grace said as they stared down a large hole in the center of the clearing. It had appeared when Chase had tripped over a lever made to look like a rock. Firm wooden stairs allowed them to travel down to the bottom, assuming it was safe. "Well we found something. Can we go back now?"

"Why so reluctant to travel down into the dark depths of the underworld?" Pika asked, clearing knowing more than she was letting on.

Grace glared at her. _Frosty bitch. No wonder everyone always ice-olates themselves from her. Ha, ice puns._

"I'm not reluctant," Grace replied. "Let's do this shit!" She jumped haphazardly into the dark abyss, completely missing the stairs. "Ah crap." She began to scream as she fell through darkness. Something wrapped around her ankle and slowed her to a stop. Chase's Venusaur had grabbed her with a Vine Whip. Grace pulled out her Dex and shined the light around her. The floor of the pit was three inches from her face. _Hm, guess that would have really…wait for it…clipped my wings. Ha, I need to stop talking to myself._

"Are you alright?!" Chase called out. Grace's response echoed across the walls, but they got the gist of it. "Okay then. We're coming down!"

After several minutes of nervously descending the staircase, the found the bottom of the cave. Grace was waiting for them, trying not to let the tremors in her body become to noticeable.

"What are we waiting for?" She asked impatiently. "Let's go!" She took a step, but then stopped and pushed Chase in front of her. "I took the lead on getting down here. It wouldn't be fair if we didn't let someone else go first." Pika rolled her eyes. Chase sent out his Cherrim. The Blossom Pokémon used Sunny Day, lighting up the cave and allowing her to change into her Sunshine Form.

The chamber was just a circular room with no carvings on the wall or anything. They all looked around and gasped.

"No way," Sam said amazement. "I can't believe this is _here_."

It was the size of a regular PokeBall. There was really nothing too special about it. Nowadays you could get customized purple lids and engrave messages on them. So the purple ball with a silver 'M' was no big deal, but the two pink bumps told them all what this really was.

"Is that the Master Ball?" Grace asked breathlessly. It was sitting on a pedestal in the center of the room. "I...I thought it was destroyed."

"Apparently not," Sam said suspiciously. "Why does she keep doing this to us? All this stuff she's left behind for us to find without any instructions for what we do with it."

"Should we take it?" Chase suggested. "It'll do no good down here. Maybe we bring it back to Green and he'll know what to do."

Pika examined the ring that was carved into the floor around the pedestal. _A pressure plate. May didn't want just anyone to find this, she had a specific person in mind. _"The creation of a Master Ball is extremely sacred. Only Champions are taught the technique, and can often only make one. Except May; she had two. One of them was kept with her at all times because it contained a Pokémon more valuable than our entire teams. The other one is here, although I'm not sure if there's anything in it." She studied the pressure plate again. "If we want to take it we'll have to work for it."

"Not more work!" Grace groaned. "All we do is work."

"Please," Pika scoffed. "Your Gym is the second least visit in the region, second only to Green's. His Gym is at the bottom of the ocean, what's your excuse?" Grace just pouted. "Now as I was saying, we have work to do. Stepping on that pressure plate will activate four defense mechanisms." With that, she stepped directly on the plate. It sank an inch into the ground, causing a loud clicking noise to echo through the cave.

"What did you do?!" Grace cried.

"Exactly what I said I'd do," Pika replied coolly. "You can't expect May to just hand us the Master Ball, traitor or not." A brown Pokéball emerged from the wall. It opened, and suddenly a Hippowdon was charging at them. They separated instantly to confuse it. The Hippowdon locked eyes with Chase and roared.

Pika noticed that there was no sandstorm, meaning the Sunny Day would be active for a little while longer. "Chase," she said, giving the Hippowdon a cold stare.

"I'm on it!" The Grass Trainer replied eagerly. "Cherrim use Solarbeam!" The Grass-type harnessed a ball of solar energy, aided by the weather. She fired it quickly, stopping the Hippowdon from trampling her Trainer. "All right, now use Petal Dance." Cherrim spun around in the air, shooting razor-sharp, pink petals at Hippowdon. The Heavyweight Pokémon groaned and fell. The brown Pokéball sensed it had fainted and called it back, while the magenta ball opened up.

"Sigilyph," cooed the Pokémon that came out. It fired a Psybeam at Chase. Pika pushed him back and sent out Weavile to absorb the attack. The Dark/Ice-type grounded Sigilyph with an Icy Wind attack and then knocked it out with Night Slash.

Now the silver ball was opening, and a Scizor was staring Weavile down. No fool, Pika recalled Weavile and nodded to Sam. Pyroar burst out of his ball in a blaze of hellfire. His mane was exploding with flames as he roared at the Pincer Pokémon. Scizor flew at Pyroar, hitting him with a nasty Bullet Punch, but Sam stood his ground.

"Overheat!" Using the last light of the Sunny Day, Pyroar fired an immense heat wave at Scizor, effectively raising the temperature of the cave by several degrees. The crippled Bug/Steel-type fell to its knees, unable to move. The sunlight faded and the final Pokéball opened.

"Absol!" Cried the final Pokémon. The others looked to Grace, who sighed and sent out Togekiss. Absol dodged the Fairy Wind, pinned Togekiss to the ground, and prepared a Stone Edge. Grace smirked. It was too easy.

"Aura Sphere," Grace said, even though Togekiss was already on it. The ball of blue energy through Absol into the air, making him an easy target for Air Slash. As Absol was recalled, the clicking stopped. Grace returned Togekiss. The entire group was out of breath. It had been a long time since they had been forced to battle on the fly outside of their gyms.

Pika seemed satisfied. "It was easy, but I think that's the point. Notice something about those four Pokémon?" They shook their heads. "Each one belonged to one of the last Elite Four members. I have a feeling that's who the Master Ball was left for. The Elite Four would pacify the Pokémon, proving they were honorable enough to take the prize. That's sort of what we did, only it was much cooler." Chase and Grace snickered before Pika could say "no pun intended". Pika rolled her eyes and snatched the Master Ball. She weighed it in her palm and put it in her pocket.

"I'd say it's empty," she shrugged. "We can check back at the tower." They climbed back up the stairs. "I say we head back and map out what we've explored so far. Then we can see what the others have done." There was no argument as they made their way back, carefully avoiding the Ariados web.

* * *

The computer gave one last hum before shutting down. Joos stood up and stretched. Amanda was messaging Josh on the other end of the room.

"Any luck?" She asked him.

Joos shrugged. "System's fine, I was able to convert the fifth floor into a large room for all of us to stay in. The computer system is pretty automated, and I didn't have time to search through all of the files, but I'm not sure I want to."

Amanda stood up. "You're doing great," she told him, jumping up to kiss him. Joos couldn't help but turn a bit red, even though nobody else was around. Amanda grinned. "Josh is doing great at the gym. There was only one challenger and he handled it. That supply drop should get her any-" there was a clunking noise on the roof "-second." They strolled to the elevator and rode it to the top floor. The large silver canister had landed in the center of the room.

"Josh is awesome," Joos said, pulling a box of Oreos out of the container. "There's enough supplies in here to last the two of us a month, and probably the nine- ten, forgot about George, at least a few days." He helped Amanda pick up the canister and drag it down to the meeting floor. Jimmy had returned from setting up the Gyms and helped them unload the supplies.

"I found a schematic of the tower and a few maps of Forum Island," the Dragon Master said excitedly. "There's a gourmet kitchen on Floor 2, a training facility on Floor 3, and a luxury bathroom/spa/pool on Floor 4." He then cast an uncomfortable look at them. "How come we've never used this place for anything other than our meetings?"

Amanda picked up the schematic and looked it over. "We were all angry with the rest of the region. They got themselves screwed over in the war and made us clean up their messes. It wasn't exactly a happy time. Hell, we've been at this for four years and we're still having problems."

"Twelve years if you count the eight years of training," Joos added. "How were the replacement Gym Leaders?"

"They were fine," Jimmy said as he rolled up the scrolls and organized the documents. "The one guy, Julius, he was a bit of a jerk. Still, we haven't ever had a Fighting-type Gym Leader so it should suffice for now. I hope the others found something."

Grace ran up the stairs. "We _found _something!" She said in a sing-song voice. Pika entered shortly after, carrying the Master Ball. The other three leaders' jaws dropped in shock. Pika set the ball on the table and sat down. Sam and Chase entered the room with their recordings of the locations and Pokemon of the island.

"Are we waiting on Green again?" Sam asked.

"Nope," the Water Leader replied, coming into the room. He saw the Master Ball on the table, and although his first impulse was to grab it and run, he stopped himself. "Oh look, more stuff to talk about. I suppose that's expected considering this is an island for meetings." They all took their seats. "I'll go first. I visited with Maggie in an attempt to open May's medical records. She wouldn't let me, meaning even if she did give birth in a hospital we'll have no clue what this child is like. We're the rest of you successful?"

"We got the systems booted up," Joos said. "The fifth floor is a room for all of us to sleep in, and I haven't had much time to look at the rest of the files."

"I found a schematic for the tower," Jimmy added. "The university basement had four documents on the island, and three of them were basic maps." He passed the maps to Anna so she could check with the one the others had just made. "I'll read over this to see if the vault is mentioned."

Green nodded and turned to the four that had gone exploring. "And what about you four? What's the story behind the Master Ball?"

"It was hidden in a chamber," Pika explained. "The defense mechanism was a Pokémon from each of the Elite Four's teams. Not the real things of course, just weaker versions. We handled them pretty easily. Now we just have to see if this thing is empty or not." They all tensed up as she clicked the button. The lid lifted up and revealed the shiny metal inside. They exhaled; it was empty.

"That's kind of a letdown," Grace mumbled. "All that work and we got the Master Ball, but there's nothing in it."

"That's technically a good thing," Chase offered. "Whatever's inside would only obey May to begin with. So I guess now we just keep looking for the vault?"

"We might not have to look much longer," Jimmy said. He was staring at the schematic of the tower. "It's been literally under our noses the whole time."

* * *

Jimmy led them all to the basement. He unlocked it with his Dex and went inside. They were surprised to find George and Goodra leaning against a large pile of Pokeballs, sleeping. Jimmy snapped his fingers to wake them up.

"Oh, hey Jimmy," George said, stretching out. "I finished my secret mission."

"Where are all the Ratticate?" Chase asked, searching for the fainted rodents. "Oh no, did Goodra eat them?" Goodra shook her head and made a disgusted face.

George laughed. "They're right here!" He motioned to the pile of Pokeballs. "What, you said do whatever I had to do. I always carry fifty Pokeballs around with me at all times in case any of them ever want to approach me." He looked sadly at the floor. "That's why I didn't have any Pokemon until now. But now I have tons of them." He grunted as he tried to scoop up as many of the balls. "If only I had a big enough belt to fit them all on."

"Why not use the PC?" Sam asked. George looked at him, confused. "Oh boy..." As Sam and Jimmy launched into a lengthy explanation of the PC system, with Green's guidance, the others searched for the doorway. There was nothing in the basement but four green walls. Jimmy had told them the vault was located in the basement, but could only be accessed via a special door set up by the Champion.

Pika frowned. _Hm...the vault was meant for the Elite Four and Champion only. So naturally only they would be able to find it. Let's see, if I were May how would I hide a giant doorway?_Pika retrieved a Great Ball and opened it. "Glaceon, Icy Wind." The ice fox blew a gust of frigid air and ice particles around the room. The particles began to collect on an invisible object on the far wall. Pika smiled and walked over to it. A large metal doorway with four locks and four handles appeared.

"How did you know to do that?" Chase asked.

"Easy. May was the Champion, so she didn't have to follow a specific typing. Her theme was trickery. She used illusions and invisibility, so it makes sense to help hide the doorway to the vault." Pika studied the locks and handled. "If my hunch is correct..."

"These are attack based locks," Amanda said in amazement. "They open when the correct type of attack is used on them."

"One for each Elite Four member," Joos concluded. "Uh...what types were they again." They all exchanged glances.

Sam sighed. "Dark, Steel, Psychic, and Ground. I assume the handles all have to be pulled on at once. Who wants to attack and who wants to pull?"

Gourgheist, Eelektross, Lunatone, and Mamoswine lined up in front of the doors as their Trainers prepared commands. Amanda, Green, Sam, and Jimmy were ready to pull.

"Dark Pulse!"

"Flash Canon!"

"Psychic!"

"Mud Bomb!"

The attacks hit the locks and the door opened with a large creaking noise. Instead of pitch black, they were greeted by the soft glow of candlelight. A large circular tunnel wormed through the underground area of the island. Candles were attached the walls, lighting the way. Every so often as they walked they'd see a dark path, but stayed in the light. There was no telling what lived down here, but hopefully one of them was a child.

"It'd be a shame if the poor thing was dead," Amanda said randomly, causing the others to stare at her. "What?! I'm just trying to be realistic. May might have been a really sucky parent and left the child in this tunnel with no food or water or anything."

"That's so morbid," Chase said, not wanting to think about it. "Let's focus on looking for a living child." They continued on, still finding nothing.

"How did we never find out about this?!" Grace said in confusion. She swatted away George's hand from trying to touch the candles.

"We never really took the time to explore this island," Jimmy replied. "We were always so busy. If you think about it, we didn't even know what kind of Pokemon live in the jungle or swim in the bay until today. We've just always been so worked up about being angry with our predecessors." They continued through the tunnel, which seemed to go on forever.

George's brow furrowed as he realized something. "Guys...this is a giant hallway! And you know what that means, I have to monitor it!" He dashed ahead of the group, into the darker parts of the tunnel.

"George wait up!" Jimmy called after him, but got no response. "Why isn't he-"

"HELP!" George screamed from a distance. "Somebody help me!"

Jimmy took off down the tunnel, Grace and Sam behind him. They each held a candle so they could see a little bit in front of him. The other Gym Leaders trailed behind as they wove through different passageways.

"How does he know where he's going?" Joos asked.

"Dragon sense," Pika replied. "All that work with Dragon-types must have caused them to project some mannerisms into him." Joos looked at her incredulously. "It happens. Why do you think Grace is so flighty?" When nobody laughed at her joke but herself, she frowned and continued running. They turned a corner and entered a small room that was lit up with more candles. George was flattening himself against the wall, trying to put as much distance between him and the Pokemon he was being attacked by.

A yellow reptilian body, a pair of strong black jaws sticking out of her head, Anna voiced what they all were thinking. "A Mawile..." They noticed it's owner lurking in the shadows. The person went up to George's waist and was completely covered in an shawl that was too big for them.

"Save me Raticate!" George cried, sending out one of the overgrown rodents. The Normal-type sniffed the air and began to sleep on the floor of the tunnel. "Oh come on! I am your god, your leader, your sole purpose in life!" The Raticate snored.

The figure laughed. "Mulan, use Thunder Punch!" It was a young girl. Mawile's fists began to crackle with electricity. The Deciever Pokemon charged Raticate, slugging him in the face twice. The Mouse Pokemon twitched, paralyzed. George sent out another ill-fated Raticate. The Gym Leaders realized they actually had to do something and got into positions.

"We need to pacify it," Chase said. "I say we Sleep Powder it in the face."

"Freezing it would have the same effect," Pika added.

"I say we just faint it," Joos argued. "One of us has to have a Fire-type here."

"Or maybe by constructing a trap of sorts," Jimmy offered.

Sam groaned. "We seriously need to practice working together more often. Pyroar-" They all looked at the battle. The Mawile had been recalled back into her ball as her Trainer threw themselves at George, pinning him to the ground. They wrestled on the floor for a few seconds, before George ripped their hood off. A young girl glared at him from underneath the shawl. The Gym Leaders cocked their heads to side, trying to figure out her resemblance to May, assuming this was her daughter. Through her mostly Asian features, which must have come from her father, they could feel the same intensity May always possessed.

"Ew, you're a little girl!" He screamed. The girl kicked him in chest, launching him off of her. She jumped up and glared at the Gym Leaders.

"Who are you?" Amanda asked, even though she already sort of knew the answer.

The girl's eyes widened. "You're the leaders from the stories..." She began to shake. "My mom was right. She said you'd come for me one day." Tears began to form in her eyes. "I knew she hadn't abandoned me.

* * *

**This isn't _technically _a cliffhanger. I mean, it's not like we don't know who this girl is or anything. Or do we?**

**I really combined a lot of things that I was hoping to spread out into this chapter, because I don't want the whole thing to be about them finding May's daughter. The fight scene for the Master Ball was the first action scene in my opinion, and I hope the ones that follow will be longer and more interesting to read. Still, it was able to showcase how effectively the Gym Leaders CAN work together if needed.**

**Until next time. Read and review, and be sure to tell me what you think of the characters. I love it when readers don't like everyone because it shows I have diversity in the cast.**


	5. Kayla

**Hey worldwide web,**

**Hey look, we actually have content that I didn't pre-write, meaning a good portion of this is actually new content. Yay! Fair warning, things are picking up and it will start to get dark in this chapter, and very dark in the chapters to come.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

"Well this is awkward," Joos said as they all stood at the meeting table. The girl they had found in the vault, Kayla was here name, was talking to Anna and Chase. After finding her in the tunnel, she had broken down into joyful tears, only to immediately realize that the Gym Leaders had no clue who she was. After that, she had remained indifferent and annoyed by being taken back to the upper floors of the tower.

"Very awkward indeed," Jimmy agreed. "Uh George, do you think you'd mind going to the attic with Kayla and waiting for us to finish up down here?"

"Hey, I don't need no babysitter!" Kayla complained.

"Yeah, and she kind of scares me," George admitted.

"I'll promote you to the Official League Hall Monitor and _Chaperone_." George was already dragging Kayla up the stairs at the word 'promote'.

"This can't be legal," the girl complained, but her words fell on deaf ears. Once they were gone, everyone took their seats.

"Dudes…this is getting real heavy," Joos said, rubbing circles over his temples. "I thought we were just coming here to discuss taxes and boring shit, then remember it's the twelve year anniversary of the fall of May F.B., and have a big awesome party. Now we're stuck dealing with her." He motioned towards the stairs.

"Another mess May threw into our laps that we have to fix," Sam mused. "I wonder…how old would you say Kayla is?"

"That Mawile's been alive for at least thirteen years," Chase said, not missing a beat. "If we're too assume that they've been together since birth…then that's about how old Kayla is."

Pika closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "I can agree with that assumption. So May gave birth to her daughter, raised her for about a year and left her in the vault with that Mawile, hoping that one day she'd be found. Lovely parenting skills."

"Do you think she's the Champion we're supposed to select?" Anna asked.

Green shook his head. "No, we can't do that. She has only one Pokemon, and she's inexperienced. And I'm not fond with the idea of another Elite Four and Champion. There's no imminent threat to Waydrn so we shouldn't take May too seriously right now. However, we do have a child without any real home, and that has to be our number one priority."

"She needs parents," Anna said, and they all couldn't help but drift their eyes towards the Electric duo.

"Woah woah woah," Amanda said. "Why are Joos and I the ideal parents in this situation? Every time we all get together it's _our_ fault if something blows up. Plus, Kayla's thirteen. Technically she can go on a journey on her own."

"But she has nobody to return to," Chase said. "Imagine how lonely it must have been in that cave with no other people to talk to." He then had an idea. "What if she just lived here on the island? I'm sure we can program a floor of the tower to function as a living quarter for her. And we can always come over to check on her."

"That wouldn't be too hard," Joos admitted. "I already did it once, how hard could it be to do again?"

"We should also call her back in here," Amanda told them. "Let her know we're on her side and that we're going to let her stay here with us." Green nodded and Jimmy went to fetch Kayla and George. The two non-Gym Leaders sat in two added chairs. Amanda was the first to speak. "Okay Kayla, I know a lot's happened in past half-hour or so, but we need to talk to you. Is that alright?" Kayla just shrugged. "Good. My name's Amanda, and these are my friends." They went around in a circle introducing each other.

"I know who you are," Kayla said flatly. "My mom told me about you."

Amanda raised an eyebrow. "How did she tell you?"

"She left me notes and letters about nine 'heroic leaders' who were coming to save me when she was no longer able to care for me...when she died." The others tensed up, but Kayla shook her head. "But that happened along time ago. She died when I was young."

"How do you know that?" Anna asked softly.

"I would read the letters she left me, the ones that she left so I'd learn to read and talk, and I'd try and feel a connection. But there was nothing. She died...oh...twelve years ago? I think that's right, but I'm not really sure. The calender I had down there is only good every seven years or something." Kayla slumped forward on the table.

Amanda cleared her throat. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you learn to read and write. No offense, but I doubt your Mawile taught you."

"There's a TV down in that tunnel, as well as tons of VHS tapes that teach you how to read and write. Mulan would just keep those playing when I was bored or tired so I would eventually pick up on it," Kayla patted her Mawile on the head.

"That's impressive, especially since it was May," Sam admitted. Kayla glared at him. "You don't know her like we do," he replied flatly.

"How do you know her?" Kayla asked. "She was my mom, but even I don't remember her. What did she do for you guys." The nine Gym Leaders exchanged glances. "Oh please, as if you can't tell me. What am I going to do about it?"

Green took a deep breath. "Okay Kayla, we'll tell you the story."

* * *

_Eight children ran around the backyard Pokemon League mansion. They were playing their favorite game "Catch the Rattata". One of them would find a Rattata and scare it out of its nest. Then it was up to anyone playing the game to try and catch or faint the Rattata in any way possible._

"We were just kids," Green began. "We were chosen to be Gym Leaders basically at birth. So they sent us off to live at the League so we could train with the current Champion, May. But it wasn't really training...it was just growing up."

_As the Rattata ran into the center of the garden, an eager ten year old and his Tympole leaped out of the large fountain. Green shook water from his jet black hair as Tympole fired a barrage of Supersonic attacks. The Rattata dodged the sound waves and Green chased after it, laughing. The Rattata turned a corner and was stopped by a small four year-old and his Oddish. Chase gave the command for Stun Spore, and Oddish attempted to pelt the Mouse Pokemon with paralyzing pollen, but the Rattata pushed past the Grass/Poison-type and continued running._

"May was the one that had to look after us. The Elite Four members were never around, probably off doing something stupid. She took care of us, and taught us everything we knew."

_Rattata sprinted through a long stretch of path. A fork in the road was up ahead, and a Togepi was walking across the path. It turned to wave at the Rattata, it's arms glowing...a Metronome attack. Togepi shot a Sludge Bomb at Rattata, knocking it back. A six year-old Grace, who had been waiting up in a tree, jumped off the highest branch and landed perfectly on the ground. She rushed towards the Rattata, only to be tackled to the ground by a Swinub._

_"No fair," Grace whined as Pika ran onto the path to catch the Rattata. The five year-old stuck out her tongue and dove to catch the Normal-type, only for it to jump over her and run the other way._

"We spent about two years there, learning and training. May was like the mom we never had. We trusted her with everything."

_Rattata managed to lose the four kids, but now it was at a dead end. Then, a Porygon phased through the hedge and Sam crashed through the bush after it. Rattata was struck with a Psybeam and slammed into a Protect." Goomy and her nine-year old trainer Jimmy stood in its way of escape. Sam and Jimmy looked at one another, daring the other one to make the first move. Rattata decided for them, running at Porgyon and knocking him into Sam. The four-year old fell to the ground and Rattata ran into the hedge itself._

"She seemed to know everything about us. There wasn't a single problem she couldn't fix. There wasn't a single thing she could do wrong...or so we thought."

_"Where'd it go?" Pika asked the other kids. They all shrugged. "What about Amanda and Joos, where are they?"_

_"Kissing behind a tree?" Grace asked, making the other kids laugh. A flash of electricity in another part of the garden caught their attention. They all ran to the very edge, where Amanda and Joos were waiting._

"Then one day, she was acting strange. She was acting strange, and packing up suitcases like crazy. She said she'd be leaving, and she wasn't sure when she'd come back. We didn't really care at first; it was a war. She had been off fighting several times, so we were shocked when we saw her..."

_The two thirteen year-olds stood beside their Pokemon. Mareep and Tynamo were both charging up Thunder Wave attacks. The other kids ran onto the scene, scaring the Rattata and causing it to run off the edge of the property. The double-powered Thunder Wave hit it on target, paralyzing it. Amanda and Joos ran towards it, and the others reluctantly followed. They weren't supposed to leave the garden, because everything else was part of Victory Road, where all the dangerous Pokemon were._

"We were just sitting around eating lunch, if I remember correctly. It was raining outside, so we turned on the TV. The only thing on was the news. Each channel kept saying 'Live: May vs. Lance to end the war?'.

_As they poked the Rattata with a stick, a low growl was heard from the forest. They looked up in fear as a Druddigon jumped out from the thick trees. It roared menacingly, causing them to scream. The younger kids hid behind Amanda and Joos, who weren't sure what to do._

_"It's fine," Amanda said nervously. "We can handle this, together...let's go!" Mareep and Tynamo both blasted lightning at Druddigon. Togepi summoned a Silverwind attack with Metronome. Goomy shielded them all from the slashes of Druddigon's claws. Porygon shot Psybeams and Swinub shot Ice Shards. Oddish coated Druddigon with various toxic powders, and Tympole fired a Bubblebeam at its face. Even combined, these attacks did nothing more than piss the Druddigon off._

"We watched for an hour and a half as she fought with Lance. Along the sides of the screen were reports from different people, saying all the terrible things she and Lance had done during the war. It was all true, and it was too much for us."

_"Do something Jimmy!" Grace pleaded, pushing the boy out in front of the Druddigon. "Tame it or something."_

_Jimmy locked eyes with Druddigon and held out his trembling hands. Druddigon stared at Jimmy, transfixed. Jimmy made low grunting noises and tried to communicate his feelings to the Dragon-type. Druddigon swayed slowly back and forth. It was working- until Druddigon lunged forward, mouth open and teeth bared._

"When the battle was over, it was a tie. May and Lance were ready to negotiate peace. They both walked forward to shake hands, and May stumbled. She grabbed Lance for support and began clutching her stomach. She held out her hand and it was covered in blood. Then we saw it, a Honedge was sticking out of her stomach."

_There was a whooshing sound and Jimmy opened his eyes. May's Helioptile held him in his arms and set him down on the grass. Druddigon blink as it realized it was now holding nothing but air. May's Pelipper rushed at Druddigon, flooding its vision with water. The Dragon-type stepped back and was slammed into by both Pokemon._

_May was running down from the garden. She had her bow slung over her shoulder and a look of fear on her face. Her ebony hair was tied back in a messy ponytail and she wore cargo shorts and a camo tank-top. "Get back!" She cried out, and all the kids ran past her. Pelipper and Helioptile regrouped before jumping back at Druddigon. The kids watched in awe as she soundly fought off the Pokemon and drew back an arrow. On the tip was on Ultra Ball. She released the arrow and Druddigon collapsed into the Pokeball._

_Shake_

_Shake_

_Shake_

_Click!_

_May picked up the ball and returned her two Pokemon. She turned to look at the kids, who were expecting her to be angry. Instead she knelt down in front of them and asked, "Are you all okay?"_

"There she was. Our mentor, our teacher, our May. Dead. She had left us, but that wasn't it. She had left us with a new responsibility. Lance withdrew his attack from us and now we were forced to speed up our training and become the Gym Leaders we are today. It took eight years of hard training...and we've been here for hte last four." Green shook his head. He didn't even notice his hands had clenched into fists. "So there Kayla, that's how we know May."

* * *

Kayla was silent. She couldn't find out what to say. Her eyes went around the circle, before stopping at Anna. "And what about you? You're only a year older than me right?"

"I was two when May died," Anna said simply. "I don't remember much from her, but I remember everything that happened after." She frowned. "I know you think that because she's your mother she's some great person. And yeah, she did stuff so you didn't die down in that vault, but she still left. And now she won't come back."

"That's enough Anna," Green ordered. Kayla looked dejectedly at the table. "I'm sorry you have to hear about this Kayla, but it's the truth. And we feel bad, really. So since we were all left behind by May...that makes you one of us." Kayla looked at him.

"Really?"

"Yes really. And I know you're old enough to go out on a journey on your own, but we were hoping you'd stay hear on Forum Island, with us."

Kayla grinned. "That'd be great! I mean...if you really want me stay. I've been kind of an ass since I got here."

"It's understandable," Amanda said. "But there are going to be some rules."

Green nodded. "Yeah, and the first one is that we're in charge. That doesn't mean we'll be ordering around, but as the Gym Leaders it's our job to keep you safe. Second, we'll be training you. Despite the skills you may have gotten down in the vault, we still need to evaluate your battling schools. As May's daughter that's not supposed to actually exist, you'll need to be able to defend yourself."

"I guess that's fine," Kayla said reluctantly. "Any other rules." There weren't any at the moment. "Cool! Can I go see my room now?" Joos winced.

"Guess I better get on that," he laughed. He jogged towards the elevator to go to the control room. Kayla, Anna, and George went down the stairs to get her new room ready. The other Gym Leaders sat back to relax from the heaviness of the situation.

Once they were on the next floor, Kayla pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to George. "I have some things down in the tunnel that I'd like to bring up here. Do you think you could go get them for me?" George nodded.

"Raticate army...away!" He dashed off with his rodents. Anna and Kayla sat in silence for a little bit.

"Hey," Kayla said slowly, "I'm sorry about before. You know, the whole thing about my mom."

Anna shrugged. "It's fine. It's just...all I remember of her is this warm feeling. She took care of me when I was a baby. And then I remember it being turned into this horrible feeling of pain and," her voice trailed off. "But I guess I forgot, you were hurt by her too. You never even got to know her."

"No, but if she's as bad as you all say she is, maybe that's a good thing," Kayla shrugged, something she had been doing a lot. "It doesn't matter really. Mulan was the one that took care of me all my life. She caught and cooked Drilbur when the food rations ran out, she taught me to make fire and dig without hurting my hands too much. She's all I need." Then she had an idea. "So you're a Gym Leader right?" Anna nodded. "I read about those. That means you're a really good battler."

"I guess so."

Kayla stood up and smirked. "How about battling me?"

...

Anna held the Love Ball tightly in her hand. Kayla and her Mawile stood against the wall, as far as possible from her. Anna had accepted Kayla's challenge, for she did love showing off her gems to anyone with the gift of sight, but now she wasn't so sure it was a good idea. She had done zero analysis on her. Anna usually watched challengers navigate the puzzles and obstacles in her gym to get an idea of their battling style, but the only thing she had seen Kayla do was have her Mawile punch something really hard.

"Well, send out your Pokémon already!" Kayla called out. "Mulan's been looking for a _real_ challenge."

Anna sighed. "Okay Carbink, let's shine bright!" A flurry of hearts erupted from the ball, revealing the Rock/Fairy-type. The rising sun reflected brilliantly of her crystals.

Kayla shrugged. "A bit too flashy don't you think." Anna's hands clenched into fists. "Hey, I'm just kidding. Mulan, Thunder Punch!" Mulan dashed across the room and struck Carbink with a warrior's greeting. Carbink hit the ground and thankfully, for Anna, wasn't paralyzed.

"Recover and use Ancient Power," Anna said, unfazed. Carbink fired several brown orbs of energy at Mulan, glowing with a purple aura. "Yes, stat boosts." Mulan brushed off the attack. "Oh, right, type resistance."

Mulan got to her feet and spun around. "Flash Canon!" She fired a beam of silver light at Carbink. Anna had experience with this attack and new how to counter it.

"Dazzling Gleam!" All the light gathered in Carbink's crystals was released into the surrounding air. The two light-based attacks refracted off of one another, damaging both Pokémon. Anna swore when she saw Mawile was still no worse for wear.

"Is that all you've got?" Kayla taunted. Mulan swung her head-jaw in an Iron Head attack. Carbink dodged and used Power Gem. Mulan blocked the glowing gemstones. "Nothing gets through Mulan's rough exterior!"

"We'll see about that," Anna grumbled. _Okay, I have no attacks that are super-effective against Steel/Fairy…and Mawile's have naturally high Defense. But if Carbink's strong enough… _"Stone Edge!"

Carbink jumped back. Her pointed ears glowed, sharpened, and extended outward. She launched at Mulan, slicing at her. Mulan blocked and deflected with Iron Head, but neither Pokémon could get a leg up on the other. Anna could see that Carbink was wearing down.

"You can do better than that Anna," Kayla said. "Shouldn't Gym Leaders be the ones full of surprises?"

Anna stood her ground. _Fine, you want surprises? I'll give you your damn surprise. _"Carbink use Wonder Room!"

"Huh," Kayla said. She and Mulan stared at Carbink, who released several pulses of blue energy. Both Pokémon glowed the same color, as did the walls of the room. "What was that?"

Now that she had the upper hand, Anna was feeling a new sense of confidence. "Wonder Room switches the Defense and Special Defense stats," Anna explained. "It's useful for resisting a majority of your opponent's attacks-" Mulan fired a Flash Canon, but Carbink stopped it with Dazzling Gleam. "As I was saying, it's useful _unless _your two defense stats are equal. So there's only one other use for Wonder Room."

Kayla realized Anna's plan a little too late. Carbink slammed into Mulan, unleashing a devastating Stone Edge attack. Mulan was too stunned by the sudden damage she was being dealt to block the attack. It took three seconds for Carbink to find her weak spot, and three more seconds to utilize it. Mawile was down and the Wonder Room faded. Kayla ran out to the middle of the room and knelt beside her fainted Pokémon.

"Sorry…" Anna began, but Kayla made a motion to silence her.

"That…was…awesome!" Kayla jumped up and hugged Anna. "That was the best battle I've ever had. The only Pokémon we ever saw in the tunnels were Drilbur and the odd Nosepass. BORING! Mulan's always wanted someone that can match her in a fight, and Carbink did even better than that."

"It was nothing," Anna said, embarrassed. She recalled Carbink and looked around. Burn marks and dents in the ceiling littered the room. George walked up the steps and stared at the destruction.

"What…no, never mind. I don't even want to know." He sent down the boxes with Kayla's stuff and exited the room. The two girls laughed.

"We should probably clean this up," Anna said finally. There was a humming nose and the floor began to repair itself. The walls began to solidify from windows and a carpet grew instead of wood. "Wow! I guess Joos was able to fix the computer."

Kayla grinned at the new room being built. "Yeah, want to help me unpack?" Anna nodded and the two new friends ran off to open the boxes. Kayla smiled to herself as she pulled out some items. _These guys may be hella weird, but I think I'll like them._

...

Joos typed some commands into the keyboard. Amanda was leaning against him, watching the events on the screen. They had witnessed the entire battle and, although they felt guilty, the conversation leading up to it. They just wanted to feel like they could trust this Kayla girl, and now they were pretty certain they could. If this girl was able to befriend Anna, the one who'd rather spend her time with gemstones than people, in a matter of seconds then they could afford to put some faith in her.

It was a shame really. If they hadn't been so focused on the screen they might have noticed a pair of shimmering eyes staring at them from the shadows.

* * *

**Wow, talk about a big chapter. I know it was mostly talking, but it was huge information dump, plus a flashback. Then I figured I'd add a battle just to make things interesting. You're welcome :D And then there's another twist at the end. This is sort of becoming a thing isn't it? Well next chapter we go back to pre-written stuff ie. Kayla's training. But then things get darker and possibly deadly. Upupu- oh wrong fandom.**

**Read and review, and tune in next time!**


	6. Training Day

**Hey worldwide web,**

**This chapter's up super quick only because things will be picking up next chapter. So think of this as a teaser to keep you busy for what's to come.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

"Why are we up so _early_?" Kayla whined as she followed Anna to the beach. She glared up at the sky. "Why is it so bright?"

Anna laughed. "It's called the sun."

Kayla huffed. "You try living in almost complete darkness for twelve years and suddenly dealing with this bright fool 24/7."

"It's not technically 24/7-" Anna began, but stopped when they reached the beach. "We're here! Okay, we can begin training."

"Wait, you were serious?" Kayla said, surprised. "Come on, you _know _I don't need training. Mulan and I are hella good." To prove a point, the Mawile exited her PokeBall and struck a pose.

Anna thought for a moment. "You're strong, yes, but you could be much stronger. And your technique needs a bit refining."

Kayla's eyes narrowed. "Oh yeah? What do mean _refining_?"

Anna tossed a PokeBall into the air. A monstrous tower of sparkling blue obsidian, adorned with rust-colored crystals, materialized on the soft sound. Anna patted Gigalith softly.

"Lith..." it groaned. Mulan instantly prepared for a fight.

"You won't be fighting Kili," Anna said. Kayla raised an eyebrow. "Short for Kilimanjaro. Anyway, you'll be watching him." She pointed to a large row of boulders sitting a few meters away. "You can come up with as many strategies, combos, and super-powered moves as you'd like; they won't be anything without practice. Just like the roughest of diamonds can be polished, the most sporadic of tactics can be refined. Kili, use Power Gem." Kili's crystals began to glow, and small glowing stones erupted from them. They launched at one of the boulders, riddling it with holes.

"That's it," Kayla said, unimpressed.

Anna laughed. "Oh, that's never _it_. Kili, use the real Power Gem." The glowing stones were once again fired at the rock, but to Kayla's surprise, they converged into a large glowing projectile. The powered up attack completely shattered the boulder. "That took us three months to figure out, and another six months to perfect," Anna explained. "Let's start you off with something simple. Rock Tomb." Kili stomped his feet and a ring of boulders fell into place around Mulan.

"Mawile!" The Steel/Fairy-type hissed.

"We'll take 'em out with Iron Head," Kayla decided.

Anna snorted. "In a real battle, do you have enough time to clear them out one by one?" She shook her head. "Think of something a little faster."

Kayla sighed. "Fine, use Flash Canon..." she caught Anna's expectant gaze, "...but, this time bite down on the blast so it shoots out everywhere." Mulan nodded and prepared a flash canon, before she released the ball of pent up light, she bit down and only kept a feel gaps between her teeth open. She released the light, causing it to spread out in different directions. Kayla suddenly had an idea. "Spin around too!" Even Anna was surprised as the intense blasts of light sliced through the boulders until they were sand. "Ha! How's that for refined?"

Anna clapped. "Very good...now we'll keep doing that for two more hours." Kayla slumped over onto her shoulder. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

Jimmy grunted and set down a large pile of books on the table. Kayla stared at the pile, mouth hanging open. They were sitting outside at the base of the tower at a small picnic table.

"You expect me to read _all of these_?!"

Jimmy shrugged. "Just the ones you feel are most relevant. Knowledge is power, everyone knows that."

Kayla slammed her head onto the table. "But I don't waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant to. I thought you're the Dragon Master. Shouldn't you be a little less lame?" Jimmy smirked and flicked his wrists. All six members of his dragon horde: Druddigon, Goodra, Hydreigon, Altaria, Flygon, and Garchop, darted out of their balls. Kayla jumped back and sent out Mulan. "Finally a real challenge!" Her confidence faltered when every Dragon-move in existence was launched at her Pokemon. Mulan dodged with a warrior's speed and grace, but each explosion caused her to lose ground. Kayla watched in desperation as a large Dragon Pulse came barreling towards her.

"MULAN NO!" But then, the attack disappeared in a bunch of pink sparkles. Mawile stood unharmed in front of the incoming attacks. The onslaught eventually stopped and Jimmy tossed a pamphlet into Kayla's hand. She opened it up and read the first sentence. "Fairy-types are immune to Dragon-types." Her mouth formed into the shape of an "o". Jimmy smirked at her. "Fine, I'll read." She slumped down onto the table and began to thumb through the pamphlet. "How long do you expect this to take?"

Jimmy checked his Dex. "I only get you for an hour today, so just read as far as you can. Tomorrow I'll have you for two hours so we should make some progress." Kayla groaned. "Hey, if you do what I tell you we might be able to apply what you've learned later on." Kayla just sighed in frustration and continued to read.

* * *

Grace landed perfectly on the small wooden pole. She was balancing maybe twenty feet in the air, peering down at Kayla who was still on the five foot pole. Joos and Amanda had been able to activate a large outdoor training course, and Grace wanted to use it.

"Come on Kayla!" Grace encouraged. "Just jump to the next one, and then it'll get easier. Then we can go to the next level." The next level was a series of stone pillars that ranged from heights of thirty to sixty feet.

"What if I fall?" Kayla asked nervously. Mulan was steadying her.

"Pidgeot's cirlcing above us so you'll be fine," Grace promised. _Oh why do we have to do this? I don't want to teach her everything I know__. _Kayla hesitantly jumped up to the next pillar, and to everyone's surprise, she made it. "Way to go Kayla!" Kayla continued to make her way up the pillars. She was so close to the next level- when she lost her footing. Kayla plummeted towards the ground. Pidgeot dove down to grab her in his large talons and set her on the ground before retrieving Grace and Mulan.

Kayla pouted on the sand. "I thought I'd make it."

Grace sighed. "I didn't do everything right the first time either. You just have to practice."

"I thought I was going to learn to battle," Kayla said. "Not learn to read books and jump on totem poles."

"You need to be able to keep up with your Pokemon," Grace explained. "I'm sure the others would have some fancy explanation for it, but I think it's as simple as 'if they can fight for you, you have to be able to fight for them'. In a battle, Trainers and their Pokemon support one another. Togekiss keeps me from falling too hard, and I keep her anchored. Otherwise we'd both lose in the end. You have to be like that with Mulan." Kayla stared at Mulan, who smiled at her Trainer. "It'll bring you and Mulan closer in the end, trust me."

And for some weird reason, Kayla did. She actually felt Grace was being genuine for once, and wasn't hiding a double standard. She leaned against Grace in silence. Yeah, she wasn't such a bad-

"Want me to teach you how to brush your Pokemon's hair?" _Oh fuck__._

* * *

The wave crashed up against the cliff, spraying Kayla and Green with a cool mist. The latter was standing at the edge in a green and black wetsuit. Kayla stood next to him in a similar wetsuit, only hers was grey. She held a body board under her arms

"Please tell me we're not jumping off of that," Kayla said. Green nodded. "Oh you've got to be kidding me."

"Battles are about striking with intensity, pounding on your opponents until they don't have the energy to fight back. It's just like a wave. You want it to stop, but it won't unless you can stop it yourself." Kayla rolled her eyes at Green's corny words.

"Do we have to be wearing these stupid wetsuits?" She complained. "I hate them."

"They aren't that bad. I wear one almost every time I'm in the water," Green said proudly. Kayla snickered.

"Is that because you don't have abs?" She teased. Green turned red (ha, irony) and glared at her. He resisted the urge to push the young girl into the violent waters below. Instead he took a deep breath and tossed a Dive Ball into the air. Mantine emerged from it and began to fall towards the water. Green grabbed Kayla's arm and jumped.

"What are you doing?!" She screamed as they fell through open air. She was clutching her body board. Green latched onto Mantine.

"Push yourself against your board and fall vertically," he instructed loudly. Kayla imitated him and they both were falling headfirst towards the bottom of the cliff. Luckily, a large wave smashed against the wall of rock. They landed on it. "Now let gravity do the rest." They were pulled a little ways away from the cliff. Sharp pointed rocks were now visible, and Kayla realized they would have been impaled if it hadn't been for the wave.

Speaking of waves, another wave was pushing them back towards the rocks. Green and Mantine were riding against the current, but Kayla was being pushed around like a rag-doll.

"You'll need to use the technique Strength," Green explained. Mantine was creating small waves to push against the large one, a Surf attack. "Normally you'd learn it through an extensive training course, or if you're lucky an HM, but we have maybe thirty seconds before we're smashed into oblivion so make it quick.

Mulan jumped off of Kayla's back and began pushing on the body board. It was no use. Both Trainer and Pokemon were pushing and they still were getting closer.

"Ten seconds," Green said. Kayla felt herself lose all traction and slip.

"HELP!" She screamed. Mulan's eyes widened. She launched forward, only focusing on saving Kayla. She grabbed the girl's arm, and feeling herself filled with a sudden energy, slammed back into the body-board. The wave was instantly obliterated by the Strength attack. Green shouted words of encouragement to Mulan and increased the intensity of the Surf attack. They continued riding through waves until noon.

* * *

Kayla could see her breath in front of her, and that was a problem. She and Pika stood in front of all six Ice Pokemon: Glaceon, Jynx, Cloyster, Weavile, Glailie, and Mamoswine, who were all blowing some kind of frosty attack at the due. Even in the bright sun, there was nothing to warm her. _Why am I doing this? _Kayla asked herself, shivering.

"A good Trainer must know their limits," Pika said as if she could read Kayla's thoughts. "Your Pokemon aren't the only things put to the test during a battle or journey. You yourself must be tough." Kayla looked over at Mulan. She seemed just as cold, but wasn't letting it show.

"I already know about that. Grace taught me." Pika's expression turned sour.

"Yes, although I suspect you'll find the Sky-High Wonder's tactic are a bit different from yours truly."

"How are you not shivering?" Kayla asked, observing Pika's normal stature.

Pika shrugged. "The cold never bothered me-" She saw Kayla's hopeful look "-to begin with." Kayla sighed sadly. Pika closed her eyes. "We're going to stand here until you can't take it anymore." It was at least another hour before Kayla moved out of the way and collapsed on the ground, trying to massage feeling back into her stiff joints. Pika returned her Pokemon and walked back to the tower.

Kayla groaned. "She really doesn't make training seem very ent-ice-ing." Mulan facepalmed.

* * *

"Do you people know nothing about children?" Kayla panted as she ran her twelfth lap around the indoor track. Amanda and Joos watched over her. "Seriously, how long did it take you to build this?" They thought for a moment.

"Well this is one of our slower days," Joos started.

"So about two hours," Amanda finished.

_Oh great, they finish each others sentences. _Kayla groaned and continued running. Mulan was keeping a steady pace next to her, but Kayla could tell she was worn out too. "Can I please do something else?" Joos nodded and began fiddling with his Dex. Kayla stopped, and suddenly the track began moving under her feet like a treadmilll. She and Mulan kept running to stay in one spot.

"You have to be fast in a battle," Amanda called out to her. Hurdles began to rise out of the ground and rush towards them. Kayla biffed the first two, but eventually jumped over the third. Mulan leaped over two in a single bound. "And remember, evading attacks can save your Pokemon when it gets down to the wire. Round projectiles began shooting out of the walls. Kayla took the first one to the face, but was able to duck under the second one. Mulan smacked them away with Iron Head. At least there were only two more Gym Leaders after this.

After an hour of physical exertion, Kayla sat down on the locker room bench. Her knees were bruised and her legs were swore. Mulan sat next to her on the bench, eating some Pokemon food. Kayla groaned in frustration.

* * *

Kayla looked unimpressed at the Venusaur. Sure, he was a large frog-like dinosaur, but his giant flower made him look...silly. Chase was organizing various bottles in a large messenger bag. What they contained, Kayla wasn't sure.

"So you probably are used to beating other Pokemon senseless with various attacks," Chase assumed. Kayla nodded. "Well there are other ways, much sneakier ways, to win. And those are Status moves." He patted Venusaur's leg. "Venusaur, Leech Seed." Three brown seeds shot out of Venusaur's flower. Two of them landed on Mulan's head, and the other one landed on Kayla's arm.

"What are you doing?!"

"You don't truly understand your Pokemon until you feel the pain they've felt," Chase explained. The seeds broke open and a small little stem stuck out. Kayla suddenly felt lightheaded as a ball of her energy was drained into the seed. The energy was then transferred to Venusaur. The same thing was happening with Mulan. "That's Leech Seed, my personal favorite. Drains health every so often to heal the user and hurt the target. Now we'll use Stun Spore."

Yellow powder wafted from the flower. Kayla and Mulan coughed as their muscles began to tighten and they couldn't move. They were paralyzed. Chase pulled out a yellow bottle and splashed them with the liquid. A Paralyze Heal.

"Stun Spore paralyzes, which reduces Speed and also has a chance of completely immobilizing the target."

"This isn't safe," Kayla said nervously.

"Course it is, I've done it before. Poison Powder." Kayla opened her mouth to protest, but suddenly choked on the violet powder entering her lungs. She felt nauseous and fell to her knees, coughing and gasping for breath. Tears streamed down her face. Mulan ran over to her, unaffected. Chase splashed her with a new liquid. "Sorry, you weren't supposed to breathe in such a big dose. That was poisoning. Does damage to the Pokemon's internal systems which has all sorts of fun affects." Chase grinned.

"You're crazy," Kayla spat. "Are we almost done? I think I know the other status ailments. Pika can freeze things. I read about Burns in one of Jimmy's books. Anything else?"

"Well there's Sleep, but I don't really-"

"I want to sleep," Kayla decided. "Mulan can carry me back to the tower." Mulan sighed.

Chase wasn't so sure. "Alright then. Venusaur, Sleep Powder." Glittering blue dust fell onto Kayla's eyes and she breathed it in. It smelled like crisp cotton bed-sheets. Slowly she felt herself drifted into unconsciousness and she fell into Mulan's arms. Chase shrugged, returned Venusaur, and left the duo.

* * *

"Please," Kayla begged, "no more!" She followed Sam down the shady path. "I've been smashed against rocks, smashed with rocks, nearly frozen, nearly eaten by dragons, hit with hurdles, hit with balls, fallen off of four story high totem poles, and freakin' poisoned." Sam remained silent, stopping at a massive tangle of vines.

"This appears to be the right spot," he observed. He turned to Kayla. His gaze was unsettling; a mixture of seriousness and 'I couldn't give a shit if I tried'. "These vines, as a certain individual told me, are actually part of an Ariados web. I figured this would be perfect for our training."

"What could I possibly learn from you?" Kayla asked. "How to give people the cold shoulder? Thanks, but I've already been with Pika today." Sam smiled at the pun, but then went back to his normal smirk. He picked up a small rock and threw it at a far away string. It twitched and the leaves rustled as the large Ariados dropped onto a nearby thread to see if anything had been caught. It glared at Sam, recognizing him from the day before. Sam entered the maze of silk. The Ariados fired a glob of silk, but Sam moved to the side, completely avoiding it. He repeated this several times, not getting hit by any attacks.

Kayla couldn't believe it. Sam wasn't even moving quickly. He just slowly walked out of the way of the moving string, poison barbs, or spikes. The Ariados grew frustrated and launched itself at Sam, but he still dodged it.

"It's always best to take your enemy by surprise," he said, squatting to avoid a toxic blast. "Anticipating your opponent's next moves and countering them are most effective." He then exited the web. "Your turn. Keep Mulan with you to be safe."

Kayla nervously ducked underneath the string. She felt exposed with the Ariados staring her down. It fired a glob of string. Kayla darted to the side, but realized her mistake. She had moved too fast and had ran into a web. She struggled to free herself from the string, but it only seemed to tangle her even more. Mulan stood protectively in front of her, absorbing any poison attacks with her Poison immunity. Ariados was approaching fast. Mulan wouldn't be able to hold it off and keep herself from getting tangled in the web for very long.

A large egg smashed into the Ariados, exploding and launching it into a tree. Seizing her chance, Mulan sliced Kayla free and carried her out of the web. Sam's Blissey was waiting for them, ready to throw another Egg Bomb if necessary. The large egg-shaped Pokemon with wings checked over Kayla to see if she was hurt. Sam shook his head.

"You failed. You were too hasty and put yourself in danger. Don't do it again." With that, he returned Blissey and headed back toward the tower. Kayla groaned and allowed Mulan to carry her the rest of the way. Mulan twitched as she carried Kayla. She turned around, feeling something's presence, but nothing was there. The Mawile shrugged and turned back towards the tower. When she was further away, the pair of shimmering, jewel-like eyes quivered as their own giggled. There was much to report, very much to report indeed.

* * *

**Pretty cool right?! I like showing off the different battle styles of the Gym Leaders, and coming up with them was fun. I'm not sure how practical these are in the games or even in the anime, but they all manage to pull them off in here. If you couldn't guess, Anna's mostly about refining techniques, Jimmy's about being studied up on opponents, Grace and Grace are concerned with having a close bond with your Pokemon so you both stay strong, Green believes in matching your opponent move for move until you've won, Amanda and Joos's strategy isn't actually revealed, but it has something to do with double battles. Chase favors strategy and Status moves, while Sam tries to win battles without getting hurt.**


	7. Shadow Puppets

**Hey worldwide web,**

**So from here on out we're dealing with completely original content! Wooh! Not a single draft of this chapter has been reviewed by a third party and now the people who have seen all the previous parts can have something to really analyze yay! Fair warning, things get a whole lot darker from her on out. Probably not enough to push an M-rating though. But still, expect death :3**

**Oh, and some safety concerns were expessed last chapter about the Gym Leaders' training methods XD**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Sableye crawled through the air vents leading up from the ground floor of the tower. He had to get to the roof in the next ten minutes, and he still had ten more floors to go. He peered out the vent on the fifth floor. The Gym Leaders were all sound asleep in their beds. Sableye transmitted the image back to the base. He then went to the sixth floor and transmitted a picture of Kayla as well. His trainer and the others would appreciate these extra images. Finally, he reached the roof through the ventilation system. Floating inches above the wooden surface was a large Drifblim. Sableye nodded at him and jumped onto one of his scarves. Together, they floated back towards the mainland. Sableye's eyes glowed as he transmitted the final image of Forum Island back to base.

The images were being transmitted back to a large monitor in the middle of briefing room similar to the one on Forum Island. All the lights were off, making the already black walls even darker. In the center of the room sat four people at a table. They all stared up at the screen as it faded black. Two small overhead lights clicked on, allowing them to see one another.

At one end of the table sat a young woman, possibly just twenty years of age. Her semi-curled brown hair was frizzy and out of place. She had various cuts in her white shirt. On her wrists were large metal cuffs that flashed green with energy. Floating just inches above her hands was a stack of manila folders. Her eyes were closed, her face twisted in concentration.

**Chloe the "Calculating Telepath" - ****Alakazam, Mr. Mime, Bronzong, Gothitelle, Sigilyph, Espeon**

_A former member of the Elite Four. Chloe is gifted with telepathy and is usually tuned in with the hearts of others. She once worked with disaster relief efforts finding survivors of great tragedies, but in recent years it's been her that causes them._

Across from her sat a man just a couple years older than her. He was leaning back in his chair, his black hair fell almost over his eyes. A scalpel twirled around in his fingers. He stared at the floating files expectantly. A rusty stethoscope hung around his neck and he wore a black shroud over a bloodstained dress shirt.

**Zane the "Mad Doctor" - ****Aegislash, Skarmory, Aggron, Durant, Scizor, Bisharp**

_A former member of the Elite Four. A career as the best surgeon in the region and an obsession with sharp objects would seem like a good idea to some people. These people are all dead, mostly because they were foolish enough to let Zane operate on theme after he lost his medical license._

To his left was a woman much older than the first, also wrapped in a black shroud. Her crimson red hair was clearly died and she was licking her lips and staring at the final person sitting at the table.

**Brittany the "Dark Mistress" - ****Scrafty, Absol,Tyranitar, Skuntank, Mandibuzz, Malamar**

_A former member of the Elite Four. Brittany has had a rough life. She started from the bottom and now she's here, at the bottom...again. She could have had a great life as the Dark-type Elite Four, if she didn't give into her sadistic tendencies and let them control her._

He was younger than all of them, maybe eighteen. He was sweating profusely and sat rigid in the chair. His usually neat dirty-blonde hair was a mess and his left eye was black and swollen. He too was looking at the files.

**Donny the "Down to Earth Heir" - ****Rhyperior, Hippowdon, Donphan, Stunfisk, Quagsire, Steelixw**

_A former member of the Elite Four. Donny's inherited his title and Pokemon from his late grandfather and previous Elite Four member Gideon. He hates getting dirty and has been stuck with the other three members his whole life. A wild card because it's unclear if they've rubbed off on him._

"That's what you've been looking at for the past month?" Zane said to the older woman, laughing cruelly as he stared at the screen again. "I know you aren't a fan of doing actual work, but I expected more of you Brittany."

Brittany glared at him. "It's been a lot more exciting than that! That was the champion's daughter just a few minutes ago. The one we've been searching for since we were kicked out of the League. And excuse me, but I was the one who planted the will in the first place so the Gym Leaders could find her for us. That guy guarding the archives was ugly as fuck, but I still showed him the goods and did what I had to do." Her eyes narrowed as the man gagged. "And what were you doing…_Dr. Zane_?"

He pointed the scalpel at her. "First, nobody called me Dr. Zane, even when I was a doctor. Second, I was just tying up some lose ends the three of you have made over the past three months." They all looked at him. "Oh please, don't act like you three can do no wrong. Chloe, I was just with you in Unova making sure nobody that saw you break into the UDF lived to talk about." The young woman looked alarmed that she hadn't sensed Zane's presence on her most recent mission. "Donny I killed those girls you met in Hoenn because you should know that sleeping around on the job is something we don't have time for." The young guy stared at the table, his face turning red. "And Brittany, oh you gave me the biggest list. I had to ask Heroi to help me out with that one. Literally an entire band of psychics saw you steal those power cuffs for Chlo," he gestured to the glowing cuffs on Chloe's wrists. "So Heroi adjusted their memories as best he could, and I killed the one or two people that were immune." He shrugged. "They won't be missed, mostly because it'll be like they never existed."

"Hold up, did you say Donny slept around?" Brittany asked, completely ignoring everything else Zane had just said. "Babe, I thought we talked about this. I only want you if you're a one woman man." She reached underneath the table and squeezed Donny's knee. The younger male slammed his knee up to the bottom of the table, pinning Brittany's hand in its spot. The Dark Trainer bit her lip and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. Donny just turned red and resisted the urge to throw up.

"Both of you stop it," Chloe snapped. She glared at Zane. "You didn't have to follow me, and you didn't have to kill them. What happens if people notice those people are gone. How is that not a loose end?"

"Heroi took care of it," Zane promised. "Speaking of Heroi, where is that bastard? His Sableye's the one transmitting this footage to us isn't it?"

"Indeed," replied a voice. They all stared at the person walking out of the shadows. A ghostly pale figured wrapped in dark silvery robes. A hood covered everything except his violet eyes an few strands of white hair. "But I had to pick him and Drifblim up before I could come here. As well as this little surprise." He pushed someone else to the ground. They were struggling on the floor, their hands bound behind their back. A burlap sack was over their head.

**Heroi the "Spectral Assassin" - ****Sableye, Dusknoir, Cofagrigus, Drifblim, Spiritomb, Rotom**

_A former Gym Leader. Heroi works hard to never let his true appearance come to the light. He even works to make himself appear like the ghosts he trains. This comes especially useful as he carries out contracts where even his victims must die not knowing who killed them._

"I found him at the police HQ," Heroi explained. "He's a secretary. Saw Green go in to talk to Maggie so I figured it'd be best to see what he knows."

"Will anybody miss him?" Brittany asked, standing up. She was eyeing his nether regions more so than she probably should have. But the dude was tied up and his eyes were covered, so it's not like anybody would know...

Heroi shrugged. "Not likely. And I'll have his mind clear and return him to his home once we get everything we need." Zane and Brittany gave dismayed looks at him. "Hey, I'm a professional. I have standards. I don't just go killing every poor soul I come into contact with. This guy wasn't on one of my contracts, if anything he's a gift to you, one that I need alive." He hoisted the man up and made him walk to the table.

Brittany growled in disappointment. "I've seen better asses than his," to reaffirm her point, she grabbed Donny's butt, making him jump. "Babe, you got to relax." Donny glared at her. Brittany shook her head. "Does he have any Pokemon?"

"Didn't look like it," Heroi replied, tightening the man's binds. "I found him at his apartment, alone. He was asleep, slumped over a desk, drooling on a magazine." The assassin shuddered. "It should be illegal to make Gardevoirs bend their legs like that." He pulled the sack off the man's head and the man began to scream.

"Somebody help!" He cried out. Heroi slammed his head into the table.

"What's your name?" Heroi asked sternly. The man squirmed.

"Eddie," he grunted. "What do you want with me? Who are you?"

"Irrelevant," Heroi answered coldly. "I want you to answer a few questions. After that, you'll return back to your mediocre life. I promise. Understand?" Eddie nodded. "Good. Now tell me the last time you saw any of the Gym Leaders in person."

Eddie thought for a moment. "Uh...let me think. It was just a couple days ago. I was at work when that water guy, Green I think, came in. He was throwing his weight around trying to be all cool. Went to talk to Maggie, the chief of the Jennys." Heroi pressed Eddie's nose into the table. "That's all I know, I swear! I have no clue what they talked about. Please just let me go now!"

Brittany was about to pull out her stun gun to shut him up, but she paused. "Wait, I know why Green went to Maggie's office. He was going to open up May's medical files!"

"What?!" Eddie cried before any of them could answer. "The former Champion? How dare he! You have to let me go so I can pummel him to bloody..." His voice trailed off as Heroi's Dusknoir placed a hand of his head, causing him to fall into a dreamless sleep.

"Sweet," Brittany said, reaching out and poking Eddie. "Now we can do _anything_ we want with him." She grinned at DJ, who's facial expression was still directed towards her in a glare. "Fine, be a party pooper. Can we at least kill him now?" She gave everyone the impression of a child asking for a cookie before dinner.

Heroi sighed. "No, I think he'll be of use. I'll alter his memories of this to the best I can, but he'll remember what Green came to Maggie's office for. That should be enough to tarnish the Gym Leader's reputations don't you think?"

"It could work," Chloe agreed. "All that's left is to report back to the Observer. Zane, set up the contact link."

Zane snorted. "You say that like it's some big process." He walked over to the large computer and opened up the Skype program. He scrolled through his offline contacts and found the Observer was online. "Perfect." He clicked on the profile and called. "It'll take a few minutes to get running. Damn connection sucks." They others took their seats, Heroi preffering to remain with Eddie in the shadows.

"What happened to your eye?" He asked Donny, causing him to jump.

"Oh...Brittany was trying to teach me to fight again. She's a rough sparring partner," he rubbed his swollen eye. Heroi gave him a look of sympathy and fumbled around in his robe pockets some aspirin.

"Did you ice it?" The assassin asked as the computer hummed. Donny shook his head. "Do that, and then take this." He handed two of the pills to Donny. "You've got to learn to fight kid, it's your job now. If you're just getting beat up and not actually learning, then you can always ask to spar with me."

"Brittany won't like that," Donny explained flatly. "She'll think I'm trying to avoid her at all costs."

"That's exactly what you're doing," Heroi face-palmed.

"Well she can't know that. Thanks for the help, I appreciate it. But you're right, I have a job to do. And right now it's report to the Observer." The call finally went through and an avatar appeared on the screen. A simple picture of a Question Mark Unown. The video camera was turned on so the Observer could see everyone in the room (save for Heroi and Eddie).

"What is the meaning of calling me at such a late hour?" The Observer hissed in a warped voice. Heroi strained to tell if it was a male or female talking. He couldn't make out anything other than the words.

"We've located the Champion's daughter," Zane reported. There was silence on the other end.

"Are you absolutely certain?" The Observer asked.

"Yes," Chloe answered. "The Gym Leaders found her in the vault using the instructions in the will. They call her Kayla. She doesn't look very much like May, more like her father I assume."

"Yes, that seems right," the Observer recalled. "Very well. What of the conditions this Kayla is being kept in? Is she heavily guarded?"

"Only by those losers," Brittany scoffed. "They've set up base on Forum Island. They don't plan on leaving anytime soon."

"Then give them a reason to leave!" The Observer snapped. "The plan is now ahead of schedule. We need the Champion's daughter soon, and the Gym Leaders need to be taken care of."

"We can arrange that," Brittany promised, pulling out her stun gun. "We can storm the island right now; we know that place better than anyone...anyone alive anyway."

"I don't want them dead!" The Observer boomed. "Did you not once listen to the plan you dumb bitch?!" Brittany flinched. "By now the Champion's daughter will have formed an attachment to them. She's been alone in that vault with nothing but that stupid Mawile for years. So if we seize the Gym Leaders, she'll be alone and vulnerable. We force her to take the title of Champion and let us have all the power."

"So the Gym Leaders are hostages?" Donny guessed.

"There's no need to point the obvious," the Observer replied. "It just makes you look pathetic. But yes, they're hostages. Assuming Kayla doesn't come willingly."

"And why would she do that?" Zane asked. "No offense, but you don't exactly seem like the friendliest guy around."

The Observer laughed, an eerie sound that echoed throughout the base. "When I meet this Kayla...she'll have a hard time saying no to me. Get the Gym Leaders to separate, and then bring them back to your base of operations. Use whatever means you see fit, but I want them alive!" With that, the Observer signed off.

Heroi reappeared from the shadows. "That's who you're working for? I've handled contracts from some pretty sketchy people, but that is by far the weirdest exchange of information I have ever seen." The former Elite Four members said nothing. "What do you four even get out of it?"

"Redemption," Chloe whispered. "They don't call us the Fallen Four for a reason. If we use the Champion's daughter correctly, we'll get all of our power back. And we'll get a chance to destroy the Gym Leaders."

"Join us Heroi," Zane offered. "You've fallen from grace just like we have. Sure we'll have to change our name to the Fallen Five, but you'd fit right in."

Heroi shook his head. "Sorry guys, but that's not my thing. I didn't 'fall', I left on my own terms. People don't think I'm dead or hiding out in the badlands of Kalos. I have a sound career. And unlike you four, I get paid up front to kill people." He turned to leave.

"Actually, we'd like to set up a contract," Chloe said calmly. Heroi turned around. "Consider spying on the Gym Leaders and bringing us Eddie, who was totally useless by the way, as a favor for old friends. Now we're asking for your paid services."

"How much am I getting paid?" Heroi asked. "And to do what? And don't even think about that 'we'll just let you live' or 'you'll get revenge' rubbish. I want cold hard cash."

Chloe peered at him through narrow eyes. "Very well. You'll be bringing us the Gym Leaders. I assumed we would need to do something of this sort, so I did research." She handed him the contents of the folders. "The first one contains a rundown of the Gym Leaders and their current teams. The second one is a schematic of the Energía City Gym. The third is an invitation to a party being held for major business CEOs that's being held tomorrow night. One Gym Leader will already be in attendance. And the fourth file contains an advertisement for buy-one-get-two-drinks-free at Grace's favorite bar. Do with those what you will. I'll handle everything else. And don't come back empty-handed."

Heroi whistled. "Damn, you do your research. But first I'd like a pre-payment, you know, to help finance anything crucial to the mission." Chloe rolled her eyes.

"Donny, give him twenty-thousand dollars from your private account," Chloe ordered. "And make sure it's set to trace back to somewhere in Kalos. That's where they'll look if they discover anything missing. Not that they should, they haven't checked that account in four years. But do it anyway." Donny reluctantly typed the codes into his Dex. Heroi checked the notification that said his balance had gone up by 20000 PD. He gave Donny a sympathetic look.

"Pleasure doing business with you," He said. He grabbed Eddie and released Sableye. The Dark/Ghost-type grabbed Heroi's hand and teleported them away.

* * *

The Gym Leaders were all sitting with Kayla at the edge of the forest. They were trying to successfully explain how to capture a Pokemon to the young girl.

"Capturing a Pokemon is an art," Chase said eloquently. "It's a hard task that this well worth the reward if one prefers to do it successfully. In the end you get a new friend, family member, and addition to your team. But it's not just about the Pokemon. It's about the twelve hours you crawl through the mud tracking the derpiest Quagsire. It's the deadly mountain climb to track down your Shiny Skiddo. It's every inch of scar tissue, every pint of blood you lose, every mentally scarring encounter with predators. Catching Pokemon by far the best thing about being a Trainer." Kayla stared at him in horror.

"Maybe instead of talking about it you should demonstrate," Grace deadpanned. Chase nodded, his face turning red.

"I don't really want another Pokemon," Kayla admitted. "And I don't really think I need to learn to catch one just yet."

Chase gasped. "How can one expect to fit into society without knowing how to catch a Pokemon?"

"I feel as if that could apply to anything but catching Pokemon," Sam admitted. "Look Kayla, we're just trying to help you the best we can. We're not the greatest with kids, so bear with us. If you want to catch a Pokemon you have to battle it. Find one you like, not one that serves as the biggest trophy," he looked over at Chase who was already eyeing a herd of Breloom.

"Look at the way they interact with one another," he said in amazement. "The males are the ones with the larger head caps. They display exotic patterns to first attract the attention of a large group of females. Then the females will clash heads with one another until the winner gets to mate with the male. If two males have their eyes on the same female they include their fists and Special Attacks in the fighting as well." He pointed to the largest Breloom with various bands on its head cap. "That's the Alpha Male. Let's go catch it!" He jumped down the hill and began to crawl through the grass. Kayla glanced back at the others.

"He's in his zone," Jimmy explained. "You don't have to go with him. Just chill here with us." As Chase snuck off towards the mating Brelooms, Kayla lounged around with the others.

Sam's Dex chimed. He read the message. "Oh shit, I forgot!" He got up and sent out PZ.

"What's the matter?" Pika asked.

"I have a party to go to tonight. Silas Capulet of Capulet Industries is throwing a party to celebrate the release of his new line of Poffin-safe cooking ware. I was invited and I wasn't going to go. But PZ says Silas has been up to some shady business and I have to go and do some recovery work."

"What kind of recovery?" Green asked. "Nothing illegal right?"

Sam frowned. "Silas is supposedly in position of a Cipher." They all raise their eyebrows. "Yeah, that's right: A Cipher. Silas is an idiot and doesn't know what to do with it, but it's dangerous."

"What's a Cipher?" Kayla asked.

"A computer program," Pika answered. "One created by Giovanni of Kanto in his efforts to create an artificial Pokemon with immense power. Instead of coding computers it can code genetic data. Complicated stuff, you'll learn about it some day. Basically he can create a Pokemon, if the stupid thing worked. Instead it created the misshapen lump known as Missingno. Not that it really matters, Missingno. is supposedly dead. The point is we need to get the Cipher and send it to an expert in Kanto."

"What do you mean _we_?" Sam asked. "I was the one that was invited to the party."

"And I'm your date," Pika said simply. "It's my contact in Kanto we're using, so I'm going with you."

"Just go," Green said with a frustrated sigh. "Break any laws that I end up hearing about, and you'll both be sorry." The two nodded and ran back towards the tower. "I swear, those two give me such a headache when they argue."

Grace nodded in agreement. A piece of paper fluttered down next to her. "Hey, what's this?"

"Litter," Jimmy replied, stretching out on his back.

"Very funny," Grace said dryly. "It's an advertisement for Buy One Get Two Free at the _Shaky Ludicolo_. Aw hell yeah!" She jumped up. "I'm going to the _Shaky Ludicolo_, who wants to go with?" Nobody responded. "Seriously?! Who's going to go cute boy spotting with me?" Green, Joos, and Jimmy immediately opted out. "Oh come on, Anna and Kayla are minor's and Amanda has a boyfriend. There's nobody else I can-" She looked behind her at Chase who was returning empty-handed. "Never mind. Chase! You're going to a bar with me." She grabbed his hand and set out her Togekiss.

"Wait, what-" Chase stammered, but he was already hoisted into the air and flying on the back of the Flying/Fairy-type.

"And then there were six," Jimmy commented. "Unless Joos and Amanda have some emergency they need to take care of."

"Actually we do," Amanda replied awkwardly. "I just got a voicemail from Josh. He was all panicky. Said something about the underground systems making weird noises."

"We should probably check it out," Joos sighed. Amanda nodded and they walked towards the tower.

Heroi watched them from the rooftop. Step 1 complete. He quietly slipped inside the tower to wait for results.

* * *

**Ooh, plot twist. And goes to show just how dumb some of our Gym Leaders can be XD I feel like I should specify ages or something about these characters to make them feel more real. Accents maybe? M'Kay, we're doing that. Any other questions, PM me or ask in the review :3**

**Knifez, Anna, Jimmy, Brittany - East Coast US accent**

**Chase, Sam, Pika, Amanda, Joos - Midwest US accent**

**Green, Grace, Heroi - Australian accent**

**Chloe, Donny - British accent**


	8. INTERLUDE

**First Interlude**

**End of Act 1**

_Waydrn_

_A unique stamp on the letter of the world._

_This region together, nine sets of hands hold,_

_Towards the sky with baited breath,_

_Left alone after their guardian's death._

_Chase is a drop of morning dew,_

_Cast of a flower's crown._

_Anna's a diamond in the rough,_

_Found if you dig deep down._

_Jimmy with dragon blood in his veins,_

_Defends the people from his pains._

_Sam with his knowing-unchanging stair,_

_Does not shirk his duties or give them extra care._

_Pika's heart an ice cold thing,_

_A network of crystals intertwined._

_Joos and Amanda a couple more than a fling,_

_But is a perfect relationship so easy to find?_

_Grace floats above the heads of them all,_

_Wiser than she appears._

_Green born of the ocean yet blue as the sea,_

_The salt dries up his tears._

**And now, Act II shall begin**

_Waydrn_

_A blot of ink left carelessly unattended._

_Providing events that were never intended._

_Nine leaders given a duty to uptake,_

_Now we'll see if we can get them to break._

_Chase just a delicate flower,_

_So easy to uproot._

_And in digging things up,_

_Anna shall follow suit._

_Jimmy's a dragon yet he has no fire,_

_He's easily slain should the need be dire._

_Sam's emotionless shield can take many blows,_

_Yet what if the killing strike goes right under his nose?_

_Atop her world of ice Pika doth sit,_

_Unaware she is feeling it as it shatters._

_The super-charged couple as they begin to quit,_

_Will question just how much the other one matters?_

_Grace feels safe in the sky,_

_But all it takes is one hard shove._

_Drown Green and leave him blue,_

_Give this region something to be proud of._


	9. Chase and Grace's Bar Adventure

**Hey worldwide web,**

**Act 2 has now begun! Sit back and enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Chase spent the whole car ride gripping the seatbelt. Waydrn had very few roads, hence very few cars. Being a Gym Leader gave Grace the esteemed privilege of owning the most luxurious, most energy efficient vehicle known to man. The candy apple red convertible zoomed down the empty road toward their destination. The top was up and the windows were too, so Chase was able to comfortably text Sam from his Dex. The Normal Trainer was complaining about having to attend the party with Pika. Those two really were adorable.

"Who are you texting?" Grace asked, leaning over to see the screen. The car swerved and nearly ran off the road. "Oops, sorry. I usually just fly everywhere so I don't get a lot of driving practice." Chase just nodded feebly, mentally calculating how fast he would have to Mega-Evolve Venusaur to absorb the impact if they crashed. Conclusion: Not fast enough.

The sound of raindrops came from his Dex and Chase knew who was calling. An image of Green's face appeared on the screen. He swiped his hand across the Dex and answered it.

"Hello," he said politely.

"Hey it's Green." _Of course it's Green, not like I don't have his number. _"Anyway, I just needed to make sure you got there okay."

"We're on our way now," Chase said, looking out at the blur of the trees as they went at least 20 mph over the speed limit. "Grace is driving."

"Is that Green?" The girl asked. "Tell him I know how to handle myself around alcohol. I'll be fine."

"I heard that," Green said to Chase. "And it's complete bullshit. She's going to get spiffed, going to find some guys, and going to do something stupid. Now I know you can legally drink and all that, but I want you to promise me-"

"I can handle it," Chase promised. "I won't be drinking-"

"BOO!" Grace said from the driver's seat.

"-and I'll make sure Grace gets back to the island by three in the morning. Togekiss can probably fly us there. And as for any guys...well...I always carry jars of toxic pollen with me." Green made a strangled noise of surprise. "Not the poison ones, just like sleep and paralysis. Look, it's fine. I won't need to use them. Okay, bye." He clicked the end call button and set his Dex down.

"Green's so lame," Grace complained. "Seriously, on my 16th birthday he took me to this bar, and he literally only let me drink one glass. And I don't even get it. I mean, he's freaking rich. And even still, all these guys offered to pay for my other drinks." She began to pout, taking her hands off the wheel. Chase reached out and adjusted it for her before they almost hit a Sentret crossing the road.

"I'm sure we'll have fun," Chase reassured. "Let's just focus on getting there with our lives intact." They drove on in silence for a few more miles before turning down a dirt road. They eventually pulled up to the small parking lot of a dingy old bar. It was a square block of concrete with one glass door. Above the door was a neon Ludicolo sign and the bar's name underneath.

"This is that amazing bar you always talk about?" Chase asked, unimpressed.

Grace scoffed. "Says the prude who never drinks. The inside is ten gazillion times better." She grabbed his shoulder and led him to the front door. Shortly after, a purple limo pulled up and two pairs of eyes peered at the duo from inside.

The inside wasn't really ten gazillion times better. Maybe like six times better. It was chilly and barely anybody was there. The bar was tending by some sad looking guy who would polish the same glass for five minutes, set it down, and then repeat. A single TV was situated on a far wall and it was currently turned off. The sun was still setting so most of the lights were on. A techno remix of _Call Me Magby_ was playing in the background.

"I love the atmosphere here," Grace sighed. "I know this doesn't look like much, but when the sun goes down everything gets better. The hottest guys in all the region come here, and if we're lucky we'll score a few of them." She grabbed Chase's hand and pulled him towards the bar. She grabbed his hand and pulled out a bottle of clear nail polish. She quickly dabbed a few drops on his fingernails. Chase jerked his hand back.

"Hey, I'm not that kind of gay-" Grace held the bottle up to his face.

"It's my personal brand, endorsed by me," she explained. "It's completely odorless, non-toxic, and transparent. Unless exposed to a variety of drugs used on unsuspecting people, mostly women, in bars. Women, or men, can put it on their nails and stir their drink with their finger. It's completely harmless and innocently looking, and if the drink contains any body stuff the polish turns bright red." She tucked the bottle into her purse.

"Wow," was all Chase could say. "You're prepared."

Grace shrugged. "Always use the buddy system if you aren't alone. Now let's talk strategy. Most of the guys that come here will be looking for girls, so you're already safe from most of the action. But you're sixteen, newly legal, probably a lightweight, definitely a virgin- let's just say the few people that will be interested in you are probably bad news." Chase glared at her. "Hey, I've been doing this since I was your age. So trust me on this one. Anyway, your main goal is to observe as I work my magic. If you notice the guy is being shady, find something to put an end to it. Again, I'm getting totally hammered tonight so I won't really be able to help you. So use those poisons you always have in your sleeves, 'kay?"

Chase nodded reluctantly. "And...um...if someone does seem interested in me." Grace stopped for a moment.

"Uh...well...just make sure you find some way to let me know," she shrugged. "See, told you it'd get dark fast." The sky was now a light purple as clouds began to roll in. Multicolored lights began to flash and move around on the large area set out as a dance floor. Quite a few more people had shown up as well. "Well I better get to work. Order anything you'd like and we'll put it on my...card..." Her voice trailed off as the bartender slid two small glasses of a strong-smelling green fluid to them. "We didn't order anything," she began.

"Paid for by the man over there," the bartender grumbled. Chase and Grace looked over at a man leaning against the bar, smirking at them. Chase blinked as he tried to figure out if this really was a man. He wore a bright orange and cyan tank-top and matching sweatpants. He was covered in tattoos, which Chase assumed were the electric blue stripes running down his bulging arms. His hair was a mess of neon orange styled in a weird cone-shape.

"First one of the night," Grace whispered.

"Why is he dressed like that?" Chase asked. "That doesn't even look like something a normal human being would wear!"

"Quiet," Grace hissed. "You'll make him think you're hitting on me and it'll scare him away." She straightened her hair, unbuttoned an extra button, and strutted over to the guy and they immediately began to talk."

Chase looked over at the bartender. "Why'd he buy me a drink if he only wanted her?"

"Your drink was from his friend," the bartender replied. "They came in together, but he's right over there." He pointed to a guy maybe Grace's age leaning against a wall. He smirked at Chase, who absentmindedly began to stir his finger in his drink. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

Grace burst out laughing at the guy's lame story. "No way? You actually said that to him?" The dude that had bought her the first drink of the night nodded.

"Yeah, and he was so surprised he crashed his lawn mower into the fence. God he was such a loser," he grinned at Grace. "And what about you? What exciting things happen to a Flying-type Gym Leader." Grace nearly spit out her drink.

"You actually recognize me out of costume?" She asked in surprise. She wasn't wearing the revealing outfit she wore during her shows. "That like, never happens." Her eyes narrowed. "Are you that super fan that's always stalking me? Quick, what's your name?!"

"My friends call me Motor," he said, holding up his hands defensively. "You can call me Motor as well. And I'm a fan sometimes, but not a super fan."

Grace rolled her eyes. "What kind of name is Motor?"

"A cool name," Motor said defensively. "My name changes depending on what I look like. Right now it's Motor." Grace stared at him. "Sorry, I'm kind of drunk."

Grace laughed for real this time. "Well I am too." She grabbed his shirt collar and pressed her lips against his, but immediately jumped back. "Ow, you shocked me." She had felt a small tingle of static as she kissed him.

"Sorry," Motor apologized. "My hair's pretty static-y when it's styled like this. It's not so bad when its being washed."

_This guy barely makes any sense when he talks, _Grace thought to herself. _Still, he's the only one here that paid attention to me._ Earlier in the night, she had tripped and spilled her drink all over a young couple. They barely reacted at all and just stared at her before resuming their dancing. _It must just be a weird night for this place. I might have to tell Chase just to go home._ She glanced over at her friend. He was sitting where she had left him, chatting away with some weird guy that was wearing all purple. _Why would somebody wear all of one color? _She asked herself, completely forgetting how Motor dressed. Whatever.

"So tell me about yourself," Motor said finally. "What sort of dark secrets does the Flying Wonder have."

"I don't have any," Grace said playfully. "Life's been pretty good to me."

"I'll bet, getting to be raised by the Champion and all," Grace's smile faltered for a second, "oh, touchy subject?" Motor gave her a sympathetic look.

"Basically," Grace spat.

"She didn't seem so bad before the war," Motor admitted. "I'm from Sinnoh so I didn't really know her that well." Sinnoh was one of the two regions that had remained neutral in the war. "There must have been something good about her.

Grace shrugged. "She taught me how to dance."

**...**

_The nine soon to be Gym Leaders were all positioned in a circle on the floor of the dance studio. Classical music played throughout the room. Anna sat at May's feet in the center of the circle with May, giggling whenever one of the pairs of dancers passed by her. The eight of them were learning to dance properly. May had organized them into pairs that best fit them in terms of height. Amanda and Joos, despite their height differences, were much taller than any of the others. Pika and Sam were relatively the same size, Pika being older and taller. Chase and Grace were equal and height. Jimmy and Green were left on the outs and had to dance with one another, something neither of them were very pleased with. Their Pokemon were all watching eagerly from in front of the studio mirror._

_"Remember, dancing is something people do at parties, weddings, and other celebrations that you'll attend as Gym Leaders," May reminded them. "We dance to show we are well taught and proper. And we also do it to have fun." She had already taught them the steps and now all that was left was to watch them apply it with varying success. Amanda and Joos had the steps down, but they preferred to spin, twirl, and rock back and forth way faster than the music allowed them to. Sam and Pika were slower and more controlled, but were too rigid. Jimmy and Green just seemed to want the dance practice to end so they could work out better partners for next time. And Chase and Grace...well..._

_"You're doing it all wrong!" Grace snapped, making Chase jump. "You're the lead this time, so you put your hand here. Quick pulling away from me, I won't hurt you as long as you do it right."_

_"Grace," May said in a warning tone. "Be nice. You have to work with your partner regardless of difficulties. You can't expect everyone to be the same level as you." Grace rolled her eyes and continued to try and dance with Chase. The four year-old was just too clumsy to do the steps properly. The music slowly ended. "All right guys, we're done for today. Next time I think we'll switch up partners okay?" May bent down to pick up Anna._

_Grace huffed and glared at Chase. "Don't dance with me next time," she said with a hard shove. Chase fell back, hitting his head on the floor. He bit his lip and whimpered, not wanting to cry. The other kids crowded around him, Oddish standing protectively by his side. Togepi waddled over and pulled on Grace's pant leg, shaking her head._

_May was not amused. After checking to make sure Chase was alright and sending him and the others out to the garden, she talked to Grace. "That was very wrong. You didn't have to hurt him because you were frustrated."_

_"But he's bad," Grace complained. "Why can't he be good like me?"_

_May sighed. How was she going to explain this to a child? Grace was one of the better dancers in the group, Amanda probably being the only one with more experience... "Come with me." She walked with Grace to another room used for training. It was large and filled with various gymnastics and acrobatic practice structures. "You know that fighting as a Gym Leader is more than just learning to battle right?" Grace nodded. "You have to be able to use your body to fight too."_

_"Why?" Grace asked._

Because there's always going to be war and right now we're in one,_ May thought darkly. "Because it's better to know things you might never need, than end up needing them and not knowing. And dancing is a lot like fighting." Grace's eyes widened. "You're a pretty good dance right?"_

_"Duh."_

_"Well how about you try dancing to fight?" She pulled out her Dex and typed in a few things. The boxing ring in the center of the room lowered so they could enter. May activated the custom program for children. A small scarecrow-like dummy covered in rags and stuffed with hay rose out of the floor. It's insides were a super fragile computer system that allowed it to move. It swayed back and forth as music began to play._

_"What do I do?" Grace asked nervously, Togepi emerging from her Friend Ball. A mechanical Rattata appeared next to the dummy._

_May was leaning up against the railing. "Fight it. You've battled before, so do it again. Only this time, pretend this is a trainer that wants to hurt you."_

_Grace gasped. "People will do that?"_

_"You hurt Chase," May reminded her coldly. She wasn't going to let the dummy actually hurt Grace, and Togepi would be fine in the battle. But she needed Grace to see something. Grace glared at the dummy._

_"Metronome," she said to Togepi before running at the dummy. She threw a punch but the dummy twirled out of the way. Togepi began to fire Bullet Seeds at Rattata and the dummy, but both dodged. Grace couldn't believe how fast they were moving, and they were keeping perfect time to the music. The Mouse Pokemon jumped onto the dummy's shoulders and then launched at Togepi, tackling her to the floor. Grace was going to run, but the dummy grabbed her wrist and wouldn't let go._

_"You have to work with your Pokemon," May explained, "just like a dance partner. If you aren't in sync or you can't keep up, you won't have the right moves." The dummy released her and Rattata backed up. "All right, go again." _

_The time Grace and Togepi repeated the beginning of their attack. Togepi would summon a move with Metronome, this time it was Flame Wheel, and Grace would rush the dummy. At the last minute, Togepi would turn on the dummy and both of them would pin it to the ground._

_Rattata circled back as Grace struggled to prevent the dummy from moving. Togepi blew up a Sweet Kiss at Rattata in hopes of confusing it, but it missed. The dummy pushed Grace off of him and jumped out of the ring. May looked surprised, mostly because she had forgotten to set the parameters to only act inside the ring, but said nothing. Grace took off after it, leaving Togepi to fight Rattata. She followed it across the balance beam and even up the rope ladder, but she stopped at the trapeze set._

_"You can stop if you want," May called out to Grace. "The whole point is-"_

_"I can do this," Grace told her firmly. The dummy stood on the opposite platform, waiting for her. Grace reached out to grab out of the swinging bars and jumped. She felt the pain in her arms as she held herself up, waiting for the other bar to come within reach. As the two bars slowly met toward the middle she noticed the mechanical Rattata was sitting on the dummy's shoulders. Where was her Pokemon?! Grace turned around and saw Togepi trying to hop up the rope ladder. She felt herself letting go, but realized the bar wasn't ready. She heard the sound of May's shouting, Togepi's cry, and a flash of white light._

_She was slowly lowered to the ground instead of falling hard on her face. She looked up and saw a pure-white Pokemon with angel-like wings and familiar blue and red markings on its belly. A three pointed crown and gentle eyes made her realize this was her Pokemon._

_"Togetic," the newly-evolved Pokemon said with relief. She set Grace down on the ground landed next to her. She awkwardly folded her wings behind her back, not used to having them._

_"She evolved," Grace said in awe. "Why did she evolve?" It wasn't that she wasn't happy with her new Pokemon, because she was more than happy, but it didn't make any sense._

_May laughed. "At least one of you actually listened to me. You need to be able to keep up with one another. Togepi couldn't do that, especially when you needed her the most, so she found a way to keep up. And that was evolving." She tickled the Fairy/Flying-type's chin. "I think that's all we need to work on today. I can keep teaching you all these things, but you need to promise me you'll be respectful towards the others. Then you'll be just like me."_

_"Good," Grace said with a nod. May smiled and sent her out to play with the others. Grace couldn't wait to show off her new Pokemon._

**...**

Motor just stared at her. "Damn," he whistled. "That's pretty heavy. And then after what she did," he shook his head and lifted his drink to his lips, but Grace noticed he didn't drink anything, "I'm sorry to hear that."

Grace shrugged. "It's not your fault." It was getting late and literally nobody was paying any attention to her but this guy. "Thanks for the drinks, and the conversation, but I think I'm going to call it a night. I better grab my friend before he does something he'll regret." She looked over at Chase who was still chatting with purple guy. The stranger's hand was on Chase's knee. _Oh that is so adorable, too bad it has to be over._ She stood up moved to leave, but Motor grabbed her arm.

"You don't have to leave," he said, his words slurred. Grace noticed his breath had no alcohol smell on it. She blinked twice when she realized the tattoos on his arms were glowing under the blacklights. _Maybe I had too much to drink?_ Motor's grip tightened.

"Let me go!" Grace said firmly, hoping to attract attention of anyone else. She tugged her arm hard and gasped sharply as a current of electricity coursed through her body. Motor was glaring at her, his eyes glowing to match his tattoos.

* * *

Chase wasn't really sure why he was so interested in the conversation with this guy. It wasn't even that interesting of a conversation to be honest. It was just about some hot-air balloon race in Sinnoh that this guy used to love as a kid. But he wasn't going to be rude because this was probably the only person in the bar that wasn't a total creep, at least not once you got to know him. He was tall and lanky, and he must have liked the color purple. his hoodie was a deep violet and he wore pale purple pants. He wore a matching purple and yellow scarf that covered his short neck. On top of his head (with no visible hair) was a puffy white hat. He seemed like a nice guy, and Chase wasn't really used to the attention so he was just rolling with it. Nothing serious was going to happen, he was sure of that.

"You really should come to Sinnoh and see it some time," the guy, his name was Zeppelin, said enthusiastically. "I go back to Sinnoh every year to watch it, except I couldn't make it last year. My boss got this new contract and I had to work." He shrugged and this time placed his hand on Chase's knee. Yeah, that wasn't happening. Chase slid his still full glass towards the back of the counter.

"I really should be going," Chase said suddenly, standing up. "Got to go grab my friend and-" Chase looked over at Grace and noticed she was on her knees, her arm twisted behind her back and the guy from earlier glaring down at her as she trembled. "What the hell?!" Zeppelin looked over in the same direction.

"Dammit," he muttered. "It's Motor. He's an idiot when he's drunk." Chase was only half-listening. He was too busy angling his wrist so he would have a clear shot at Motor. One dart and Grace would, theoretically, be saved. Sure he couldn't gauge the guy's weight or metabolism but the plant toxins were basically universal. Zeppelin grabbed his wrist and the dart shot into some random person's shoulder blade, but they continued to dance.

"What the-" Zeppelin pulled him out of the chair and through the crowd towards the door. Chase tugged away from him, but he wouldn't let go.

"We have to get out of here," Zeppelin said nervously. "Motor's drunk and his dumbass friends are with him. I'll calm him down once I get you out of here." He shoved Chase towards the front door.

"Wait, I'm helping you," Chase snapped. "Grace is my friend,_ and_ I'm a Gym Leader. So if anything, I should be the one getting you out of here."

Zeppelin sighed. "How about we both get outside and call the Jennys? I'm too tired to have a bar fight anyway." Chase followed him outside, even though he was planning on running back into to save Grace the minute Zeppelin's back was turned.

It was dark outside, the only light source being the sign on the bar. Chase saw Grace's convertible parked a little ways away.

"It's kind of chilly out here," Zeppelin noticed, unwrapping his scarf. "You should probably take this." He unravelled the piece of cloth and lunged at Chase, swiping the air with two cloth tendrils. Chase jumped, narrowly avoiding getting grabbed. Zeppelin's head began to inflate, his skin taking on the color of his clothing. Soon his whole body had morphed and a large Driflblim floated in front of Chase.

"Surprise," he said in a raspy voice that bounced around the inside of the balloon. Chase dove to the side, dodging the four cloth tendrils. Drifblim kicked up a gust of wind, sending Chase flying across the ground.

"Who sent you?" Chase asked, trying to open the door to Grace's car. It was locked.

"You'll find out," Driblim whispered, reaching for Chase again. The Grass Trainer ducked and threw out Gourgeist. The Ghost/Grass-type fired a blast of dark energy to knock Drifblim back.

"I'll ask again," Chase warned. "Who sent you? And you better have an answer or you'll be popped!" Drifblim slammed into Gourgeist, releasing a wave of negative energy in a devastating Payback attack. Chase's Pokemon hit the ground with a thud.

"You aren't in the position to be making demands," the giant blimp ghost pointed out. "Why don't you come with me? I'm sure you'll get all the answers you'll need." Like a demonic jellyfish in the air, Drifblim floated towards him. Chase tugged on the car handle again, but it was still locked. _All right, fine!_ Chase released the door handle and shrugged. He then leveled his wrist and fired a dart into one of Driblim's arms. Driblim hissed, making a noise that sounded like air slowly leaving a balloon. His one arm hung limp while the other three struggled to work as a unit. Gourgeist jumped up and spat three Leech Seeds into Drifblim's face.

Chase pulled out his Dex. _It's been a while, but it should work. _He pressed the red button.

ACTIVATING HALL OF FAME - WAYDRN - CODE 381195 - FOREST GUARDIAN

Chase felt the surge of energy as his battle armor materialized, replacing his civilian clothes. Brown combat boots, with olive green pants tucked into them. A matching t-shirt covered by a forest green cloak. A brown belt with small pockets, containing vials of plant toxins and spores. Tucked into both sleeves were hidden mechanisms, equipped with blades and darts that could extend or shoot out depending on Chase's movements. On his hands he wore brown finger-less gloves. His quiver appeared as well, but it contained no arrows. And he had left the bow in car.

"So this is the tree Forest Guardian," Drifblim remarked, setting Gourgeist on fire with a Will-O-Wisp. The pumpkin-like Pokemon retreated to stand next to choice. "I'm underwhelmed..."

"That'll be the last time you make that mistake," Chase replied, extending both wrist-blades into vials of poison and then drawing them out dripping with the stuff. "Leave now, and tell me who you work for."

"Not happening," Drifblim said. Chase sprinted towards him, sending out his five other Pokemon. Drifblim hesitated for a second, before releasing a large gust of wind. Chase pulled his head over his face and continued running. Cherrim was thrown of his shoulder by the attack. When Chase reached Drifblim he began slashing at his tendrils. He pushed back two of them, but was forgetting about the third. Drifblim seized him by the waist and began to tighten his group. Parasect jumped onto Driblim's head and began gnawing on his head tuft. Driblim threw Chase aside and began slamming Parasect into the ground.

Leafeon dashed over to her Trainer. "Leaf?" She asked, concerned.

"I'm fine," Chase reassured her, regaining his footing. He had been fortunate not to hit his head on the ground, but he definitely scraped up his fingers. _This is what I get for trying to look cool._ He looked over at Drifblim. The Ghost/Flying-type had rid himself of Parasect and was now surrounded by trapped between Venusaur and Vileplume, who were both preparing a concoction of poisons. Gourgeist stood of to the sides with Parasect, both of them slowly recovering with the us of Leech Seed. "Think we can take him?"

"Leaf!" Leafeon responded. Her tail glowed and hardened into a leaf-shaped steel point. Chase took out a vial of poisonous nectar and poured it on her tail. They both stood up.

"Iron Tail," Chase ordered simply, before extending his blades and rushing at Driblim for a second time. But this time he had brought back up. Leafeon jumped onto Chase's shoulder and then back off, slicing downward onto Drifblim as Chase cut at his arm. They retreated and surveyed the damage. Drifblim had fallen to the ground, a large nasty cute in the center of his face. Its four arms lied limp on the ground. It wasn't deflated of course, Drifblim's weren't actually balloons, but it was definitely on its last legs before it fainted.

"You haven't won yet," he rasped. Suddenly, he began to glow red, as did Chase's Pokemon. They all cried out in pain, while Drifblim took flight again. _Pain Split! But how? It adds up the health of both Pokemon and then divides it by two, thereby healing one and hurting the other, but setting them as equals in terms of overall will to fight- _Chase didn't have time to think as he avoided a Will-O-Wisp. Some members of his team were better off than others. Cherrim and Leafeon could only sit and whimper, while Vileplume and Venasaur still stood strong.

"It's over!" Chase yelled at Drifblim. "Any second now Grace is going to come out here and we're both going to kick your ass." Drifblim laughed, before coughing out a thick cloud of Haze. Chase spun around, completely disoriented. Six balls of light danced around in the distance. Will-O-Wisps. And where a Will-O-Wisp appeared, Drifblim probably was. Chase fired a dart into each ball of ghostly flames, until all had disappeared. Piece of cake. It was only until after the Haze cleared that Chase realized his mistake.

All six of his Pokemon were slumped over on the ground, darts sticking out of them at various spots. The toxins had had injected them with were too strong even for Grass-types, and there would be no way to revive them quick enough. He glared at Driflblim, who was laughing at his expense. This stupid blimp had tricked him and made him hurt his Pokemon. Chase stabbed at Drifblim, but the Pokemon grabbed his arm and twisted it sharply. He heard something snap, but didn't have time to think before he was grabbed and thrown onto the hood of Grace's car, hitting his head when he fell off.

* * *

So it turns out there was a reason his name was Motor. Grace was hiding underneath the bar with the terrified bartender as a maniacal Rotom shot lightning at everything in sight. Grace could hear fighting outside, meaning Chase was in trouble. But there was no way to get outside to him without getting zapped. "Call 911," she said to the bartender. "And then get out of here." The bartender crawled towards the wall phone, only to have it explode seconds before he reached it. Rotom giggled. _Oh that is it!_

Grace leaped over the counter and glared at Electric/Ghost-type. Rotom continued to laugh. Shedding his human disguise must have made him no longer capable of speech. That wasn't too uncommon among secondary ghost Pokemon. Grace did a backflip, narrowly avoiding another bolt of lightning. The bartender tossed her a frying pan before returning to his hiding spot.

"Really?!" She called out to him. "Why do you even have a frying pan-" She was cut off by Rotom zooming towards her. Grace closed her eyes and swung, knocking Rotom into an electrical socket. The rubber handle of the pan prevented her from getting shocked. "Wait a minute, if he can go inside machines then why did I-" The overhead lights began to exploded, raining shards of glass onto the floor. Grace slid underneath the counter again to avoid them. Where was her Dex? Grace looked up and saw she had left it on the table with Motor's drink. If only she could reach it.

"Crobat distract it," Grace ordered, sending out her Pokemon. The Poison/Flying-type sped towards Rotom, allowing Grace to jog towards the table and snatch up the Dex. Rotom threw Crobat to the ground with a Discharge attack before blasting a Shock Wave at Grace. Too late however, because Grace had already pressed the red button.

ACTIVATING HALL OF FAME - WAYDRN - CODE 718135 - FLYING WONDER

Grace emerged from the flash of white in her battle gear. She wore simple running shoes and white shorts. Her top half consisted of a tight, sleeveless, aqua-colored shirt and aviator goggles. Her short hair was tied back and held under the strap of the goggles. She protected any bare skin with flesh-colored spandex, and wore blue leather gloves. She pulled a small cylinder out of her pocket and it extended into a full aluminum Bo staff. Rotom smirked and began to take over any appliance he could just to throw it at Grace.

"This isn't funny!" Grace snapped, batting away a blender and then pole vaulting over a fridge. "If you're going to kill me, at least do it on your own merit." She separated her staff into two parts and hurled one end at Rotom, who was immediately grounded to the piece of metal and thrown into the stereo.

"WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT KILLING YOU?!" The speakers blared. Grace threw out Noivern to combat the sound, returning Crobat in the process. "I JUST NEED TO KEEP YOU BUSY LONG ENOUGH!" The blinds were thrown up, allowing Grace to see outside. Chase was being carried into the air by a giant Drifblim.

"No!" Grace cried, running towards the door. Rotom shot past Noivern and threw Grace back with a Hex. He rushed into the back room of the bar.

"The furnace is back there," the bartender whimped.

"Oh no..." Grace whispered. Noivern grabbed her and rushed towards the bartender. There was a sparking noise, and then blackness...followed by the noise of every exposed electronic device in the bar exploding.

...

"The whole bar appears to have disintegrated," the Jenny told Maggie. "We found it like this." She motioned to large rectangle of ash and the other marks made by an explosion. There was a car that had been smashed and tipped over, as well as several Pokemon lying on the ground.

"Who do these belong to?" Maggie asked, although she already knew the answer.

"We didn't discover any Trainer on site, but these are probably the Pokemon of Chase of Forêt City."

"And how do you figure that?"

"Because Grace of Spéir City was discovered on site." The Jenny led her over to where Grace was lying on a tarp. Next to her was Noivern covered in burns. The Flying/Dragon-type groaned in pain. "She was found cocconed in her Noivern's wings, embedded in the side of her car. We assume Noivern covered her, the bar exploded, and they were launched into the vehicle."

Maggie nodded. Grace was alive, that was good. One less thing to have Green worry about. "Where's Chase?" The Jenny shrugged. "Perfect...what else did you find."

"There's a strange indent on the hood of Grace's car, a trace of blood belonging to Chase on the car hood, and that's about it," the Jenny listed off. "His Pokemon were all incapacitated by these darts," she held out one up, "looks like the kind he uses."

Maggie's brow furrowed. "I sincerely doubt he'd hurt his own Pokemon. He's too...passive."

The Jenny scoffed. "With all due respect ma'am, this is a Gym Leader we're talking about. They're capable of anything. I'll let you handle the report on this one, and I'll make sure the press doesn't get a hand on this. But make sure you question that Gym Leader when she wakes up." Maggie nodded, and the young woman walked away. The Chief of Police knelt down next to Grace, and pulled her Dex out of her pocket. The golden shield icon in the corner of the screen meant that Hall of Fame was activated, which was good, because Chase had most likely activated Hall of Fame as well. Maggie dialed Green's number.

"Hey Green, it's Maggie. Yeah...there's been an accident."

* * *

**You know what they say: You have to start things out with a bang :P**


	10. Party at the Capulets

**Hey worldwide web,**

**Well after an explosive chapter (pun very much intended), it's been slightly difficult to make a chapter that rivals that one in comparison. At the very least, this one is an equal. I like splitting the characters up into pairs because it makes interactions much less congested, even though we have a pretty big cast with ten main characters (although that number may be getting thinned). So here's the Party at the Capulets!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Sam didn't do emotions. Really, he preferred being the apathetic prick in nearly every situation. It made things so much funnier. But how exactly was he supposed to keep his overconfident emotionless façade if he was going to go to a party with Pika as his date? And not only that, but they were also going to be tracking down the Cipher together and sending it to her contact. Obviously Pika would get the credit, not that Sam really cared, or at least that's what he told himself. Sam furiously typed the text message into his Dex. It made a whooshing noise at it sent to Chase. The clock on his Dex read 5:55. They were going to be late if she didn't show up soon-

"I'm here," Pika said, walking into the apartment. Sam jumped, surprised that she had gotten in. "PZ let me in," she explained. The Porygon-Z jumped out of the computer mainframe and chuckled sheepishly. Sam shook his head at it when Pika wasn't looking. Sam noticed she was wearing a t-shirt and a kapris. "Are you wearing that to the party? I forgot to mention it, but this is a very classy affair, and since you insist on being my date-"

"Relax, I've got this," Pika said, pulling out a bag of clothes. She disappeared inside the bathroom down the hall to change. Sam stood in his kitchen, glaring at PZ.

"Pory," the Normal-type said with a shrug.

"You like her," Sam told the Virtual Pokemon. PZ jumped back and shook his head. "Yes you do. Or you think I like her?" He scoffed. "Yeah, that's not happening." He folded his arms over his chest. "Get in my Dex and check the traffic updates." PZ nodded and entered the PokeDex, returning with no traffic alerts.

Pika entered the bathroom and the door shut and locked automatically behind her. Everything in Sam's apartment was automated, so naturally when she reached for the door on the other end of the wall, it slid open. Pika looked over her shoulder. The other door was still locked and Sam wouldn't dare come in if he thought she was changing. She slowly slipped into the next room.

It was Sam's study. Unlike the rest of the apartment, this room had wooden floors and a rustic atmosphere. A fake fireplace sat at one end of the room, and Sam's desk on the other. The walls were lined with bookshelves and display cases. Pika stopped to examine an ancient wooden sword from Johto. She reached for the glass door, but stop when she noticed a small blue light shining out of the case frame. An alarm-triggering laser field stretched so thin that it gave the appearance of glass. Clever.

"That's so paranoid it's not even funny," Pika whispered to herself. Sam had a living, breathing security system yet he still felt the urge to lock up his stuff with lasers like some sort of super villain. Pika had no need for such security measures. She lived in a castle composed primarily out of ice and stone, perched a couple thousand feet above sea level and surrounded by a maze of ice tunnels and razor sharp spikes.

She made her way over to the desk and checked it for lasers. Finding none, she crouched down and crawled under it, examining the bottom for a smooth surface. She pulled a large disc-shaped object our of her pocket, pressed it against the desk, and twisted. It made a hissing noise as it attached itself to the desk. Pika huffed and got out from under the desk. Good, now all it would take was the push of a button to blow the roof off the apartment building in a storm of ice and compressed air. Not that it would come to that, at least not if everything went well.

Pika entered the bathroom and shut the second door before changing into her outfit for the night. When she returned to the kitchen, Sam was leaning against the counter, reading a magazine. He had changed into a formal looking brown suit and a pink tie, and although she would never dare say this out loud, he looked good. Being the CEO of his own company mean he knew how to appear somewhat attractive (and that was as far as Pika was going to mentally compliment him). She uncomfortably cleared her throat and waited for him to say something.

Sam looked up from his magazine and stared at her. She wore a silver gown that went down to cover her feet. She nervously adjusted the straps to better cover her shoulders. She noticed his staring and glared at him.

"My eyes are up here!" She snapped, startling him. Her dress wasn't even revealing, and Sam was actually looking at her whole outfit, but she felt the need to break the silence. It was better than the awkward staring contest.

"Sorry," Sam muttered, putting the magazine aside. "So are you ready now? We should probably get going so we aren't late." Pika nodded, grabbing her small handbag and walking with Sam towards the door. She looked over her shoulder one last time, as if to reassure herself that Sam didn't know what she had done. They got into Sam's car and began to drive towards the Capulet estate.

"So who's going to be at this party?" Pika asked as they drove out of the city and into the countryside. "That Capulet guy, he sells cookware, so why did he invite you?" She probably put a bit too much frostiness into the last word, because Sam winced and didn't say anything at first.

"Capulet Industries sells more than just cookware. They supply literally everyone in Waydrn with appliances. Silas personally made every one of his products into his own Dex Project. He's the top supplier of almost everything, except PokeDexes. computers, and the like." Sam smiled triumphantly.

"And what gave you the competitive edge?"

"The element of surprise and being a Gym Leader. I was able to bypass the customs laws we have here and market my business internationally." He shrugged. "If Silas could do that, he'd rule the international business enterprises."

"So I take it he's your competition?" Pika guessed. "Then why go to his party."

Sam laughed. "Silas isn't competition, not by a long shot. He can't code worth shit, and computers is a whole other field of practice." He frowned. "We're going to the party to get the Cipher." Pika nodded. "It shouldn't be too hard. Silas probably doesn't even know what it is. If this wasn't such a big deal, he'd probably hand it over to us if we told him."

"Yeah, that's not happening," Pika said firmly. "Nobody's supposed to know the Ciphers exist anymore, mostly because they shouldn't, which is why we need to get it to my contact so he can properly destroy it."

"Who is this contact by the way?"

"His name's Bill," Pika replied. "He started the PC system in Kanto." Sam coughed.

"You mean _the _Bill?! As in founder of the Pokemon Storage system and coding genius?!" Sam was really excited it seemed.

"Yeah, you know him?"

"Everyone who codes knows who Bill is," Sam explained. "But at least now I trust you'll be sending the Cipher to a credible expert." Pika's eyes narrowed. "Er, not that I didn't trust you to begin with. It's just-"

"How much longer?" Pika interrupted, not wanting to continue the conversation.

"We're here actually," Sam said. "Behold the Capulet Estate."

* * *

"So this is what our major business leaders get to live in while the unemployed masses are living in hovels?" Pika said the minute she got a good glimpse of the manor. Truth be told, she was just trying to hide how impressed she was. Silas Capulet, and she assumed the rest of the Capulet family, lived in a manor that valued Parfum Palace in Kalos. Parfum Palace was the only other mansion she had seen though, but she figured this wasn't the norm for mansions. Large front grounds surrounded by sculpted hedges, marble statues towering above them, and the gentle flow of water cascading from fountains. They drove into the parking area and found a space.

"I don't really know of too many hovels in Waydrn," Sam admitted. "Maybe in rural Johto or some of the islands in Hoenn, but not here. We're so localized and productive."

"I suppose you would know," Pika responded, irritated he was trying to prove her wrong. "I do live in a kingdom of isolation, in which I am the queen." She smiled at Sam's disappointment. There was no way she was quoting that movie. She then frowned at the line of guests entering the front doors. They were all in pairs, mostly male/female with a few exceptions. "Let me see that flyer-" She snatched it out of Sam's back pocket and read it aloud. "Silas Capulet's Meal-For-Two Cooking-ware Endorsement Party. Don't be late, Bring a date, Live music at eight."

"I can explain," Sam gasped as Pika grabbed his collar threateningly.

"There is no Cipher here is there?" Pika guessed. Sam struggled, extremely nervous about the dangerous vibes she was giving off. "You just wanted a date because you're a sad, pathetic person who knows he needs to trick someone into having a good time with him."

"That's not at all what's going on!" Sam hissed, trying to keep his voice lowered. "You're making a scene." Pika shoved him back, releasing his collar. "There _is_ a Cipher here, but the only way either of us is getting in is if we have a date. And not like a friend date, a romantic date."

"Am I missing something?" Pika asked. "Because last time we decided to be one another's 'romantic date', it ended horribly. And while I blame you for most of it, I'm willing to agree that I am also responsible for a few reasons why we do not work well as a couple."

"Don't even bring up that night," Sam said as they walked towards the door. "We were both equally at fault, okay?"

"You started it," Pika grumbled.

"How was I supposed to know you don't like ice-cream?!" Sam cried.

"Gee, I don't know, maybe because I hate being stereotyped and expected to give in to what society expects of me?" Pika guessed.

"Oh don't even start with that crap. It has nothing to do with you trying to stand out, you just wanted a reason to not have a good time. I admit I'm usually the serious one, but there's a reason why we gave you that nickname when we were kids-"

"Don't you dare say it!" Pika stood up on her toes so they were at eye level with one another. "Say it and you'll be on the recieving end of Mamoswine's tusks." Someone in front of them cleared their throat. The two Gym Leaders turned to look at a servant accepting all invitations from the incoming guests. "Are you here for the party?"

Sam fixed his tie and straightened his collar. "Yes we are. Here you go." He handed the man the flyer. He eyed Pika, and Sam realized she didn't have a flyer. The Normal-type Gym Leader wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. He could feel his face heating up. "This is my date...we love each other and stuff." The servant nodded slowly, letting them enter the mansion. It was a barrage of glittering lights, voices, and different perfumes as they moved through the parlor towards the main ballroom. Silas Capulet was waiting for them, greeting each guest that entered the room.

Despite owning a large amount of his products, Pika had never really even seen a picture of Silas Capulet. He wore a sharp-looking three piece suit. He was balding on the top of his head, and the rest of his hair was buzzed really short. He was maybe in his late forties, yet he maintained a youthful glow. He greeted each guest with a smile, a handshake, and a few words.

"Sam!" He said cheerfully, shaking Sam's hand. "I'm so glad you could make it. I was worried you'd be missing out on all the fun like at my We Fish You A Merry Christmas Party."

"Sir that was three years ago," Sam said awkwardly as he shook Silas's hand, but Silas was already moving onto Pika. He took her hand and kissed it.

"And who might you be my dear?" He asked politely. She started to speak, but Silas held up his hand. "Wait...I've got it. You're the Ice-type Gym Leader up in Gefroren. Pika?" She nodded. "It's a pleasure to make your aquaitance." He bowed.

_What a weirdo,_ Pika thought, but she smiled anyway. "The pleasure is mine," she argued kindly. "Sam seems to have quite a lot of respect for you." Silas glanced over at Sam.

"Oh Sam and I go way back. I bought out his first company," the man laughed, causing Sam to look embarassed. "You know Sam, I never thought of you to be the type to settle down with a girlfriend. You always seemed so busy with your work."

"It's not really settling," Sam explained. "I just...er...enjoy her company is all."

"I'm sure you do," Silas said with a wink. Sam and Pika both felt the strong urge to throw up. "Well go mingle with the other guests. We're having a lot of people showing up who weren't on the list to begin with. I'll join the rest of you in a bit." With that, he pushed Sam and Pika into the ballroom.

One half of the giant room was a dance floor with a disco ball and strobe lights. Music was playing for those that already wanted to dance. The other half of the room had circular tables where guests could sit and chat before the party began. Sam led Pika through swarm of people, pausing occasionally to greet people. Finally they stopped at the wall. Pika started to laugh.

"That was big, scary, Silas Capulet?" She asked incredulously.

"Yes, and what's with the laugh?" Sam retorted, unamused.

"You spent the whole drive here painting him out to be some evil mastermind," Pika chuckled.

"He's definitely a mastermind," Sam remarked.

Pika's laughter died down. "It's just...I was expecting someone more like Lex Luthor, not Dr. Doofenshmirtz." Sam rolled his eyes.

"Maybe it's his skills with people's that make him so dangerous," Sam said quietly.

* * *

The party actually didn't suck, or at least it hadn't so far. Sam and Pika had talked with a few more people about various things in the region. Silas still hadn't shown up, meaning the party couldn't officially start. It was getting hot in the ballroom and everyone was just standing around awkwardly. Then, the doors to the ballroom opened and Silas strolled in. He seemed a little worn out, but he smiled at everyone.

"My apologies," Silas announced. "We had an unwanted guest roaming the grounds and it had to be dealt with." He rolled down his sleeves to cover a large scratch-mark. "But let's let the party begin!" Everyone cheered.

"That's kind of suspicious," Pika whispered. Sam nodded in agreement.

"Ladies and gentleman," Silas said to the guests. "It is with great pride and joy I present to you, for the first time ever at one of my parties, my daughter!" Everyone clapped as a young woman about her age entered the room from the upper floor. She walked next to the banister, smiling down at the party guests. Her youthful glow and perfect complexion immediately made every woman in the room self-conscious. Perfect brown curls, a winning smile; Pika put a hand up to her own hair, which was straight and not nearly as good. She shook her head to clear herself of these thoughts. This girl was doing something to the guests.

"Everyone, my daughter Kate!" Silas announced again, and everyone clapped a second time as Kate walked down the stairs. Pika relaxed once she saw the shiny scale-pendant Kate was wearing to contrast her dress. Prism Scales were able to reflect light perfectly to improve the looks of what or whoever possessed one. They were responsible for Feebas evolutions and were dropped by Milotics. Kate flipped the pendant over to snap the other guests out of its effects, and was met at the top of the stairs by a young man her age, wearing a tuxedo. He was large, muscular, and his hands were shaking like he had one too many shots of sugar with his coffee.

**Julius the "Caffeine-Power Powerhouse" - ****Machamp, Mienshao, Medicham, Lucario, Hawlucha, Gallade (Mega)**

_**Exertion Badge - **Julius has over thirty-million subscribers on ChuTube. He's a part-time fitness buff, part-time vlogger, full-time coffee enthusiast. His battles are a rush that you won't find in any espresso._

Sam snapped out of his Prism Scale-induced stupor and leaned close to Pika. "That's Julius, one of the replacement Gym Leaders Green hired. He's a pretty tough trainer." Pika shrugged. "I heard he trains Fighting-types." She could sense his displeasure. Neither of them were really that fond of the aggressive, physical-based Pokemon. They could punch through ice cold defenses and do extra damage to vulnerable Normal-types. Julius seemed like an okay, guy, from the brief glimpses they caught of him before he and Kate disappeared into the crowd.

"We should sit down," Pika suggested. The tables were filling up fast. She and Sam looked around for somewhere to sit.

"Sam my boy," Silas said, coming over to the duo. "Why don't you and Miss Pika come sit at the guests of honor table?" He offered his hand to Pika, who took it with fake smile.

"Silas that's a big honor," Sam exclaimed as they walked over to a table where Kate and Julius were sitting. "Are you sure you don't have other people you want sitting here?"

Silas laughed. "Oh no, you're like a son to me. Might as well keep the young couples in one spot. It's easier to keep them out of trouble that way." He winked and Sam felt his face flush again. The couple took their seats across from Julius and Kate, who seemed to be in a heated conversation.

"Unova's beaches are nicer," Julius reasoned. "We can go out more often, get tan, show off your- I mean, our- beach bods."

Kate didn't seem to notice Julius's slip of the tongue. "But Johto's so much more rustic. Things get really down to earth over there." Sam coughed awkwardly, causing the young couple to look at Pika and Sam.

"Oh, hello," Julius said awkwardly. "You must be the Gym Leaders I'm covering for." They nodded. He stuck out his hand. "I'm Julius and this is Kate." Kate waved awkwardly. Pika gave an unimpressed look at Julius's hand and didn't take it. Julius retracted the offer and looked back at Kate.

"You're Sam right?" Kate asked finally. The Normal Trainer nodded. "Father talks about you a lot. Mostly good things," she promised. "You usually give him quite the run for his money."

"Well he still manages to afford parties like these," Sam pointed out, motioning around the room. Servants began to go to each table and take drink orders.

"But you're a Gym Leader," Kate retorted. "That's the one thing Father can never be. Don't be so quick to make yourself seem less than you really are. It's pretentious." Pika raised an eyebrow. Maybe this girl wasn't so bad after all.

"So how do you two know each other?" Pika asked. Julius started to say something, but Kate interrupted him.

"Julius and I have known each other _forever_," she explained. "We met at Trainer School and have been best friends ever since!" Julius wore a pained expression on his face.

"Yeah," he turned to order his drink. "Friends." After they ordered, he continued. "So you two are...you know?" He made an obscene gesture which made Kate laugh awkwardly and both of the Gym Leaders blush.

"You don't just ask someone that," Kate scolded. Julius shrugged.

"Oh yeah," Pika replied dryly. "We're really going at it." They laughed at her sarcasm.

Julius smirked at Sam. "Bruh, you got to step it up. It take me maybe two hours to get a girl to swing by my flat for a little one-on-one training," he winked.

Kate frowned. "You mean _our_ flat?" Julius winced. "I wasn't aware you brought girls over when I wasn't around."

"Heh, yeah...sorry about that-"

"It's so good you're seeing people!" Kate interrupted him. "Now I just have to get a boyfriend and we can double-date!" Julius looked like he wanted to hang himself with his tie. She then cast a glance at Pika and Sam. "Or, you know, triple date."

The two "couples" continued to chat as the party moved on. Drinks were brought out and people made trips to the buffet tables for food. Pika noticed that in between mingling with his guests, Silas would glance nervously at her and Sam, and then to the large windows of the ballroom. He was also constantly cleaning his scratches.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom," Pika whispered to Sam when Kate and Julius were distracted. "Maybe snoop around for the Cipher. I'll let you know if I find it." Sam nodded,

"Don't do anything that'll get us arrested." Pika rolled her eyes before walking towards the bathrooms. Kate noticed she was gone and turned to Sam.

"So that's your girlfriend hm? Well," she said, her voice raising. "I don't remember hearing anything about you two being a thing. In fact, the most recent thing in the tabloids, besides Grace's scandalous swimwear, is whether or not Apperjus is going to get married eventually." She flipped her pendant back around for a few seconds. The other guests were staring now. Even Silas seemed interested. "So I guess my real problem is what your true relationship with Pika is. Are you dating?"

"No," Sam admitted. There was a murmur from the crowd. _Why sis she doing this?_

Kate smirked. "Well then why are you two at this party meant for couples?"

"Er..." Sam stared at the party guests. He couldn't really tell them the truth. It was official league business. _Okay Sam, you're a business man. Make something up that won't hurt your image. _"She's...my intended." The party guests gasped and Sam wished he could take that back.

* * *

He peered through the large pane of glass, his breath fogging up the window. The object sat on the ground next to him. _Can you see them?_ It asked curiously. He could see the thermal images of the party guests through his jeweled eyes. He clutched the object close to his chest and phased through the wall. _Excellent work Sableye. Now toss me into the center of the room, and then find Heroi._ Sableye nodded and threw the Odd Keystone into the air. He had already teleported away before it landed on the dance floor with a loud bang.

* * *

When Pika returned from the bathroom, everyone was staring at her. "Uh..." She said awkwrdly. Then, Silas lifted his glass.

"To Pika and Sam!" He toasted, prompting others to do the same. Pika turned to look at Sam and gave him a cold stare. She marched over to their table and sat down.

"You have exactly ten seconds to tell me what's going on before I have Cloyster crush your head like a soda can," she whispered threateningly.

"Nothing happened," Sam whispered back. "But when this is over, we have to get married."

Pika opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by a loud banging noise and a sudden plume of spoke billowing out from the dance-floor. Several guests screamed as the violet smoke began to swirl around the middle of the room, a sinister laugh echoing through the ballroom. Phantom hands broke off from the main cloud of smoke and small glowing green orbs could be seen in the vortex of smoke. Pika felt her blood run colder than usual, her mind flooded with visions of people in agony and screaming.

"What's happening?!" She heard Kate cry. Her vision was starting to blur. Sam didn't seem to be faring much better, his head slumped against the table. Pika reached out to touch his shoulder and nearly collapsed as she felt herself being sucked into a vision. This one wasn't her own. It appeared to be Sam's. She struggled through the haze until she could see the scene unfolding through Sam's eyes.

_Sam was lying on his stomach, searing pain slicing through his sides. He huffed and puffed, trying to regain his breath as his tiny body struggled to get enough oxygen. Just a few meters away, the other seven kids were jogging through the garden as part of their daily exercises. Amanda and Joos seemed like they could run forever, leading their tiny pack of children. Sam's legs ached and he could barely breathe. Porygon floated above him, trying to attract May's attention, even though Sam didn't want it. He had failed and it was hard to ignore the others as they stared at him._

_He hadn't noticed he had started to cry until May sat down next to him and helped him into a seated position. As she helped him drink water and slowly massage away the pain in his legs, he began to quiet down._

_"You aren't the fastest," she whispered to him, "but you'll find something your the best at. It's just not this." All Sam had heard was that he wasn't the best, and that slowly began to tear him down._

Pika tightened her grip on Sam's wrist as she punched through the memory. Whatever was doing this had a good grip on him, and she would have to break through it. It wasn't long before she tumbled into another painful part of Sam's past.

_It had been three years since the fall of Waydrn to Kanto. The soon to be Gym Leaders were forced into a strict training camp to ensure they would be able to handle their positions. The rigorous battle and combat exercises served as a fail-safe in case exactly what had happened, happened. One such part of the training, and most of their least favorites, was the weight lifting class. Green powered through the class like he always did, while Grace lounged around smiling innocently at the overseers so that they wouldn't force her to do more than the others._

_Sam grunted as he once again failed to lift the required weight. He wasn't the only one, as a matter of fact, Green, Amanda, and Joos were probably the only ones that could do it, but the overseers spat curse words and insults at him as he walked to the back of the line in shame. He recalled May's words, only this time they were saying something else. "You aren't the strongest."_

Pika felt her vision clearing as she lost contact with Sam's skin. The phantom hands were slowly wrapping their skeletal-looking fingers around both Gym Leaders' waists. Pika grabbed Sam's wrist and drove headfirst into the next memory. She shattered several flashbacks of embarrassment and low self-esteem, memories that Sam would probably never want to share with anyone. _This isn't right,_ she said to herself. _I shouldn't be seeing these things. _She wasn't well-versed in telepathy, but drove further in, looking for something that would snap Sam out of his funk. She felt her efforts dwindle as she was quickly thrown into another memory.

_It was their final year of training. Eight long years and now there was just one week left. The overseers had determined the nine of them were fit for Gym Leader status and now there was just training. Today was Sam's favorite exercise. It was a virtual reality training exercise, one that put real physical exertion on their bodies, but kept them inside a virtual mindscape. They were split into three teams of three; blue, red, and green. Sam was on Green with Anna and Jimmy. They had formed a temporary alliance with the Red team (Joos, Grace, Pika) to flush out the Blues. The virtual arena was the same, a grassy plain with mountains on one side and a jungle on the other. Chase was leading the Blues to probably another victory._

_Well, lead was a choice word. Chase wasn't much of a team player in these simulations. He would lead his team to the treetops so he could pick the other teams off with arrows and toxic spores. He didn't care what his teammates did, as long as he could get his own plan to work. The grove wasn't a bad spot. It was clear enough for lightning bolts to hit their targets, and any other projectiles for that matter._

_The two teams dashed into the grove, hiding underneath the cover of branches and shrubs. The canopy was oddly quiet. Usually Chase and the others had no problem being loud. Maybe they were changing tactics. "They should be here," Sam whispered._

_"Or maybe you led us to the wrong spot," Joos suggested. "Or a trap-" Sam blinked in surprise as the shaft of arrow suddenly appeared in the bark of the tree, perhaps a centimeter from Joos's nose. Sam immediately knew who this arrow belonged to, and that this person only missed on purpose._

_"Joos ru-" Both the tip and the fletching of the arrow exploded, killiing Joos and ejecting him from the simulator in a cloud of pixels. The others went into panic mode as they saw Chase leaping from branch to branch with his Gloom, releasing toxic powders and arrows at them as they ran. Grace scampered up the trunk of a tree, leaping at Chase, but she was cut down by a vicious bolt of lightning. Pika gasped as Green's weapon was thrown into her back and she too died._

_"THE RED TEAM HAS BEEN ELIMINATED" The mechanical simulator voice said. Sam looked around for Anna and Jimmy. They were probably both alive, but they were now scattered in the grove. Sam looked up. Green, Amanda, and Chase were all standing atop a large branch, each training their weapons on a different person. Sam had maybe four seconds. He glanced at Porygon and then the cloud of powders hanging in the air._

Poison Powder is a Poison-type attack, _he thought, _Psychic attacks can be used to ignite poison, dealing major damage. _"Psybeam!" He cried as Chase released the arrow. He saw the flash of multi-colored light, a slight discomfort in his throat, and an explosion before he was pulled out of the simulator._

_"THE GREEN TEAM HAS WON!" The computer droned as they all woke up. Anna and Jimmy both had blue lights next to their icons, but Sam noticed his light was red. The other eight were looking at him, impressed. Sam couldn't help but smile. No, he wasn't the fastest, or the strongest, but he just might be the smartest._

Pika grunted as she was forced out of Sam's mind. The hands had released their grip and Sam was now looking around in confusion. Pika wasted no time in pulling him out of the chair. She spun around and nearly screamed. In the center of the dance floor, the mysterious green orbs swirled around in the smoke, a bright green face and eyes glaring at the party guests. Its mouth was still erupting with laughter.

"A Spiritomb," Sam said breathlessly. "And a pretty damn big one too." He ducked and pulled Pika down as one of the hands swiped at them. "We can't let them touch us." They crawled around the table towards where Julius and Kate were huddled on the floor. "Are you guys okay?"

"I've had better days," Kate admitted with a nervous laugh. "What is that thing doing in here?" Nobody could offer up an answer.

"We need to get people out of here," Sam explained as party guests ran around screaming. "A Spiritomb is no joke, especially one of this size. I'll be no help, and neither will you." He looked at Julius, who just shrugged awkwardly. "Julius and I can help evacuate, if you want to take down Spiritomb." Kate tilted her head the side. "Sorry Kate, but we can't bring a civilian into the fight."

"You'll be much more useful rallying the party guests," Pika assured her. _Besides, like she'd be good in a battle. And definitely not if things get physical. _She looked at Sam. "Hall of Fame?" Sam nodded. They both opened up their Dexes before leaping out from behind the table.

ACTIVATING HALL OF FAME - WAYDRN - CODE 19113 - SARCASTIC GADFLY

ACTIVATING HALL OF FAME - WAYDRN - CODE 169111 - ICE QUEEN

Sam felt the tingling sensation as the molecules of his battle armor were assembled over his party clothes. A simply shirt and pants, with light but durable metal plates embedded in the; complete with shoulder-pads, knee-pads, basically a lot of pads. Sam pulled the hood over his face and activated the mechanism on his wrist. A circular shield (two feet in diameter) made of a lightweight medal and tricked out for all sorts of functions assembled on his wrist. The best function though was the neurotransmitters in the hood that allowed Sam to mentally order the armor to change its color, and cause the shield to activate. He blinked and saw-like blades emerged from the sides. He held it up to his face to block a chair that was thrown at him.

Pika's armor wasn't as useful, but still good for a fight. Electric blue combat boots and matching leggings underneath a powder blue skirt and long-sleeved top. A wool vest over that. Her hair was tied back in a long braid. Tied to her waist was a small pack that held her freezing grenades. In her right hand was a white sceptre with a razor-sharp, titanium snowflake at the top. She dove to the side and swiped at one of the hands, eliciting a groan from the Spiritomb. She saw Sam dash towards the guests and threw a grenade int one of the open palms. It exploded, freezing the hand solid and dropping it to ground with a crush. The spiritual energy flew back to Spiritomb and now only one hand remained.

"Pretty clever for a mere child," Spiritomb smirked, his voice echoing through her head, and apparently everyone else's. Pika pulled out another grenade and threw it, but Spiritomb threw it back with his one free hand. Pika did a clumsy backflip and hid under a table as the grenade exploded, covering part of the floor in a layer of ice. She emerged from the table and lowered her sceptre. Maybe she could reason with this thing.

"What do you want?" She asked aloud, forgetting he could answer mentally if he wanted.

"I want nothing but to experience the agony and suffering of as many people as possibly," Spiritomb replied, shrugging with his one hand. "But that's not what I came here for. I came here on an order from my master."

"And that would be?" Pika frowned. This was a Trainer's Pokemon. Meaning this attack was planned.

Spiritomb laughed again. "My dear, I've been in this miserable existence for thousands of years, since the dawn of my master's bloodline. And even before that, before I was transformed from human to spirit to Pokemon." That was right. Spiritomb were created from ancient, sacred, and now illegal rituals that harnessed 108 of the most evil souls and bound them to an Odd Keystone. It was a punishment to the Pokemon and the people, and only one person in the world had managed to successfully capture one and keep it from turning on them; Cynthia the Champion of Sinnoh. _Although I suppose now that's two people_, Pika thought.

"You still haven't told me what you're here for," Pika spat. She could see most of the party guests being ushered out of the ballroom by Sam and Julius, with the help of their Pokemon.

"My master needs to acquire you and your fellow Gym Leader," Spiritomb explained. Pika began to sweat. This thing had come for her and Sam? "And while I'm not supposed to kill you, nobody can help if one of my attacks is a tad too strong. I am over a thousand years old you know." He summoned and Shadow Ball and threw it. It moved towards Pika at astonishing speed. She tensed up, but the attack never came. Standing at her feet was a Glameow, the Shadow Ball caught between her teeth. With the jerk of her head she tossed it to the side. Even Spiritomb seemed caught of guard.

Someone to Pika's right gave a whistle and Glameow ran over to their side. Pika stared at this person, barely recognizing them. The big puffy dress was gold, and now all that was left was an undershirt and pajama shorts. She was barefoot, her hair was a mess, and all that was left of the former Kate was the scale pendant. Pika blinked. She wanted to clarify this was the same girl she had met at the party, but didn't in order to remain vigilant. At Kate's side was Glameow, a snarling Mightyena, and a sly-looking Liepard.

"I figured you could use some backup," Kate explained. She turned to Spiritomb. "I'm not letting you take my friends."

Spiritomb smiled. "If only you knew what your friends really thought of you." Kate took a few more steps with her Pokemon.

"What they think is not of my concern," she clarified. "They are my friends whether they like it or not. And if you hurt my friends I _will _hurt you back. I've got nothing to lose."

"Do you now?" Another spectral hand appeared, Silas tight in its grip.

"Daddy," Kate gasped, the color draining from her face.

"One more step and 'Daddy' gets squished," Spiritomb said simply.

"My father has nothing to do with this," Kate said, her voice shaking. "Let him go."

Spiritomb couldn't have looked more thrilled. "Your loyalty must be what's driving him to keep your true relations secret, by implying you have any." Kate just stared, confused. "He's not your father my dear. He's been posing as your father since he found you on the street. After your real parents abandoned you."

"He's lying!" Silas shouted. Spiritomb responded by having his hand squeeze silent.

"Please don't," Kate said desperately. "Daddy? This...this isn't true is it?"

"You can't trust him," Pika said. She suddenly wondered which 'him' Kate would interpret her to be talking about.

Spiritomb scoffed. "I can read minds dear. He found you and took you home because nobody wanted to have a child with trash like him. He wrote notes and kept what little belongings you had behind the green door you could never open as a child." Kate's eyes widened. Silas just stared apologetically at her. "And now that we've taken care of that elephant in the room, time for 'Daddy' to say goodbye." With that, the hand tightened its grip.

"NO!" Kate screamed, running at the hand. Her Pokemon held her back. Pika grimaced and looked away as a whole lot of blood spilled onto the floor and what little was left of Silas was dissolved by the ghost energy. She fell to her knees, tears spilling down her cheeks. Kate gripped a broken table leg and hurled it at Spiritomb, striking him in the eye.

"You idiot girl!" Spiritomb shouted. He spat out a massive Dark Pulse right at Kate.

"Don't you touch her!" Julius shouted. Jumping out in front of the attack and slamming a button. There was a flash of magenta light, and the Dark Pulse dissolved. Standing above Kate was Julius and his Mega-Gallade.

"J-Julius?" Kate said. "You've never gotten him to Mega Evolve before."

Julius looked down at her. "I- I mean he's- I mean _we _have never had a good enough reason to." He turned back to Spiritomb. "I'm going to defeat you if it's the last thing I do." Sam was now ready to join the fight.

"That's a terrible plan!" Pika blurted out. "Spiritomb's a Dark/Ghost-type, so he's immune to-"

"With all due respect Miss Pika," Julius interrupted with a grin, "Shut the fuck up. Gallade, Night Slash!" Gallade launched at Spiritomb and the real fighting began.

* * *

Pika had sent out Weavile, Mamoswine, and Olaf her Glalie (whom she Mega-Evolved) to fight with her. Sam had Pyroar, Blissey, and PZ with him. Julius was dueling Spiritomb one-on-one with Gallade. Kate sat against the grand fireplace, her face void of emotion. Spiritomb was tough, evne with seven Pokemon and three people fighting him. His two spectral hands had minds of their own, and wouldn't stop reaching for Sam and Pika. Julius was making little progress with Spiritomb, and Pika could see that he and Gallade were tiring.

"Let me know when you're ready to submit," Spiritomb said to Sam and Pika. "Remember that whatever happens tonight is your fault. Silas's death; it could have been avoided if you had just gone with him." Kate looked up at them, her face filled with pain. Spiritomb smirked and Pika could sense his grip tightening on Kate's mind. "Yes my dear Kate, your father may still be alive if it weren't for these pathetic excuses of Gym Leaders."

Kate rose from her spot on the floor. She stared at them all with a stern expression. A feeling of dread crept over Pika. Spiritomb's smile grew, before twisting into a pained expression. "Get out of my head!" Kate ordered. She took a deep breath.

"I am Katherine Capulet, _legal _daughter and heir of Silas Capulet. Seeing as how my father is recently deceased, I inherit everything of his as stated in his will." Her voice had a stone-cold voice that even set Pika on edge. "That includes the Lance of Capulet, which I now claim as my own!" She reached for a crystal blue PokeBall on the fireplace mantle.

"No!" Spiritomb growled.

"By blood or by law, I am still a Capulet! And I declare you trespassing on my noble house!" Kate threw the PokeBall into the air, releasing the Lance of Capulet in a flash of rainbows.

"Milotic," it cooed, floating in the air beside Kate. The girl flipped over her pendant so Spiritomb's focus was on her.

"Now get out of my house!" Kate screeched, charging forward. Milotic blasted at Spiritomb with Disarming Voice, crippling it. This Milotic was like nothing Pika had ever seen. It's normally red ear-fins were a deep blue, and its blue tail was a glimmering gold. _A Shiny...of course_. Kate lept into the air, grabbing onto Milotic before bringing the Water-type down onto Spiritomb with a devesating Dragon Tail. Spirtomb immediately fled back into the Odd Keystone as Kate and Milotic landed on the ground. Kate reached for it, but it disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kate looked up at the others. "We have to call the Jennys.

Luckily the Jennys had already arrived. After doing as good of an investigation as they could, they began to collect as many witness statements as possible. Kate, Julius, Sam, and Pika stood outside one of the police car. Sam was on the Dex with Green.

"So what will you do now?" Pika asked Kate.

"I don't know," the girl admitted. "I'm the last living Capulet in the world. I can't get married or I'll lose my last name. I can't keep going with Daddy's company, that's not me. Actually, I don't know anything about me. What if what I find in that box, isn't what I want?"

Julius took her hand. "We'll open it together then. And we'll face whatever you end up being together."

Kate smiled at him, tears forming in her eyes, and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you Julius. You're the best friend I could ever ask for. I really don't deserve you." Julius just shrugged and took it for what it was worth.

Pika sighed and walked over to Sam. Kate was taking things better than she would have. "The Jennys looked through the house, it seems like there actually was no Cipher. It was just a dirty trick." Sam just nodded, he was still on the Dex. "You know, I thought about what you said. About getting married-"

"We can call it off," Sam said, putting Green on hold. "It wasn't right for me to just say something like that."

Pika shook her head. "It could be nice. I mean, I'm not ready for marriage, and I haven't exactly met anyone that's changed my life nearly as much as you." Sam started to turn red. "How about in four years, if we're still single, we'll give it a shot?"

Sam shrugged. "That could work." He put the Dex up to his ear. "Yeah, wait what?! We'll be right there." He look alarmed and shoved the Dex into his pocket.

"What's wrong?!" Pika asked, concerned. Sam looked terrified. "Sam answer me!"

"Something happened at Amanda and Joos's Gym. There was an accident. They think-" Then the police radio went off.

"We have reports of a massive explosion at The Shaky Ludicolo," the radio buzzed. "Two Jennys are on the scene, they've reported one fatality. I repeat, one fatality."

* * *

**This chapter was a bitch to write XD I've complained about it to friends so much it isn't even funny anymore. But it's done, and I know there's a lot to explain. Ask any and all questions you have in the reviews and I'll respond to them via PM as best as I can.**


	11. Underneath Energía

**Hey worldwide web,**

**The final part of what happened that fateful night, before whatever's left of our Gym Leaders regroups. Also, there's a poll on my profile about what your favorite characters so far in the story are, and after this chapter I'll have added the newest character revealed today. Fair warning, this is going to get gruesome.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

"So what sort of issues was Josh talking about?" Joos asked as he and Amanda flew away from Forum Island in their jet. The mainland was pretty far away, and the flight would take maybe thirty to forty-five minutes even in their super-powered jet. The two of them didn't really mind though. Flying was fun, even though they were Electric-Trainers who preferred the ground. Flocks of Altaria and Pidgey mingled with one another, maneuvering out of the jet's path.

"Something about how he was hearing weird noises from the basement," Amanda replied, checking the messages on her Dex. "Oh, and he said the systems went offline. Power seems to be down. No biggie."

"That seems like a biggie though," Joos said, concerned. "We set it up so if the power fails we get alerted, remember? Why didn't we get any alerts? Forum Island has some of the best Wi-Fi in the region. Did Josh say the entire power was off?"

"He said the Gym was pitch-black," Amanda explained. She then frowned. "But the emergency generators, all ten of them, should have kicked on and the red emergency lights would be on. Maybe something really is wrong."

"No kidding," Joos snorted. He increased the speed. "Let's just focus on getting there. Josh has his Pokémon, he'll survive. Maybe there's a storm." They flew on in silence, heading to the Western point of Waydrn. As usual, they sent the jet to fly remotely to the gym while they skydived to the ground. They noticed that there were no signs of a storm as they plummeted towards the ground, which made the activity a tad less exciting. They opened up their parachutes at the last second possible and gently floated to the ground.

"Would have been cooler with the rain," Amanda mused.

"And lightning," Joos added.

"And thunder booming in the background," they said at the same time, packing up their parachutes. They entered the city and walked down the main street. Energía City was seashell shaped, with the Gym being at the most Western point and the streets branching out from it. Small, energy efficient apartments lined the outside of the town, and small business popped up the closer they got to the Gym. It was getting dark out and not very many people were milling about. The solar powered streetlights began to light up using the energy they had stored during the day.

The Energía City Gym loomed over the city. A four-story, hexagonal building completely covered in solar panels. The thick black plates were lined with neon tubes that lit up at night. But nothing at the Gym was lit up tonight, rendering the building a black mass that stood menacingly at the busiest part of the city.

"Something feels very wrong," Joos whispered, holding Amanda's hand. They knew the front doors wouldn't open up automatically, but even with both of them pulling they couldn't get it to open. Amanda looked at the small crevice between the two doors. She could see small glint of metal between them.

"Hey babe, you might want to take a look at this," she said to Joos, who had sent out Electivire to pry open the doors. He squatted down and looked at the metal.

"How the hell are the locks on if nothing else is?" He asked. Amanda shrugged. "The locks run on the same system as everything else…maybe it's not just a power outage. "All right Electivire, you know what to do."

"Vire," the Thunderbolt Pokémon grunted, connecting its tails to the keypad. He released an Ion Deluge attack into the system. The locks were overpowered and released with a snap.

Joos returned his Pokémon and checked out the keypad. "System's fried now, but it had to be done." He pried open the doors. The hallway was pitch-black. "Well my dear, you're up." Amanda rolled her eyes and threw out Ampharos. The Electric-types tail pulsed with red light, leading them through the dark entrance. They heard movement and continued towards the lobby. The building was empty, save for something behind the reception desk. Ampharos barked out a threatening command, prompting a small sticky ball of fluff to crawl out from behind the desk.

"Slurpuff?" Joos said in confusion. The Fairy-type waddled over to the duo, panting and sniffing like a bloodhound.

"Amanda?" A voice called out. "Joos? Is that you?" The lanky receptionist of the Gym crawled out from behind the desk. His Slurpuff jumped over to him and nuzzled his shoulder. Josh adjusted his glasses and squinted in the light. "Oh thank goodness you're here. I was just about ready to call the Jennys."

"Don't hold off on that phone call just yet," Joos told him. Amanda looked towards the door leading down to the basement.

"What happened here?" Amanda asked. "Why are the lights off?"

"I don't know," Josh replied frantically. "I kept hearing weird noises coming from the basement, and then Slurpuff started growling at the door. So I contact you. The noises kept going, and then there was this big crash, and the lights turned off about five minutes ago. I was too scared to go down there, and I don't know how to work anything. The computer systems aren't working, and the Wi-Fi's down."

"This is really serious then," Amanda realized. "Let's get going then." She walked over to the door and threw it open. Nothing but a narrow staircase leading down into total blackness. "Who's going first?" Joos and Josh both looked at her. "Fine then. But I need Slurpuff to lead the way." The Meringue Pokémon began to hop down the stairs. "Okay Slurpuff, do you smell anything weird down here?"

"Why would Slurpuff be able to smell anything?" Josh asked.

"Slurpuff have a sense of smell one-hundred-million times better than humans," Joos replied. "Slurpuff can literally see this place better than we can, just with its nose." He sent out Eelektross. The EleFish Pokémon floated above them, further illuminating the staircase. They slowly descended into the basement of the Gym. A maze of walls covered in pipes, circuit-boards, valves, and switches. None of the overhead lights were on, not even the red emergency lights. The faint red and yellow glows coming from the Pokemon caused shadows to dance across the walls.

"This is creepy," Josh shivered. Joos shrugged. They had done nighttime repairs before, but it was significantly colder than normal down in the basement. Usually even when turned off, the machinery caused the lower level to be unbearably hot. Now his Dex was reading 40 degrees Fahrenheit (Waydrn was one of the two regions in the world not to use Celsius). They came to a four-way intersection. Slurpuff continued going to the right, but then stopped and looked down the path going forward.

"Slurpuff puff!" He yipped loudly. He dashed forward into the straight path.

"Bad Slurpuff!" Josh cried, chasing after it.

"Josh wait!" Joos called out. There were two loud crashes coming from the other two paths. He looked over at Amanda, hesitant to make a choice.

"Josh will be fine," she said simply. "He's not stupid, he knows not to touch anything. We need to figure out what made those noises and then we can find him." Joos nodded, still unsure. "Come on, we'll be fine." She then ran down the left path and Joos took the right.

* * *

Joos knew the underground maze by heart. The path he was taking would lead to the control panels for the outdoor lighting. Josh and Slurpuff were heading for the main junction with the supply generators, and Amanda was checking out the internal lighting. He found the side wall lined with grey panels. Normally they would be light up, indicating the status of each individual light, but now all of them were black.

"I guess I'll just have to go through each one individually," Joos said unenthusiastically. "But what was that crash caused by?" Eelektross shrugged, but then pointed to something lying on the floor. It was a large black sphere with a yellow zig-zag around it. It resembled a giant Christmas ornament. Joos and Eelektross slowly walked over to it. Joos reached out to touch it. His hand rested on the soft, squishy surface. It felt like it was covered in a thin layer of cloth.

"It's fine," Joos reassured his Pokemon. "Nothing to worry about-" A large pale hand shot out of the orb, grabbing Joos's wrist. The Electric Trainer cried out and tried to free himself. Elektross hissed and shot a Zap Canon at the orb. Joos fell back as his wrist was released, and the orb began to float. A second hand appeared, connected to an arm, and then a thin cylindrical head surrounded by a grey collar. A single red eye burned through the dim light. Joos felt his heart beginning to race and his joints lock up. He wanted to run.

"Dusknoir!" It groaned and tried to reach for Joos again. He was frozen in fear. Eelektross shot another Zap Canon at the Dusknoir's face and wrapped around Joos, trying to snap him out of his funk. The entire room felt like it was pushing in on him. The Dusknoir's eye was fixed on him. Eelektross sent a minuscule jolt of electricity down Joos's spine, causing him to grunt and stand up. He shook his head and began to run. Dusknoir flew after them, firing Hex attacks which Eelektross only barely deflected. Joos ran back to the intersection near the staircase and only stopped when he couldn't see the Ghost-type anymore. He was tempted to run up the stairs and get help, but he couldn't leave Amanda and Josh down in the basement with Dusknoir prowling around.

"I think we're safe," Joos began, only to yelp when two hands reached up from the floor and tried to grab his legs. Dusknoir emerged from the floor. Eelektross pounced on the Gripper Pokemon and began to spew acid all of him. Eelektross waved for him to run, a command Joos didn't need to see twice.

"Noir!" Dusknoir groaned, throwing Eelektross of of him.

"AMANDA!" Joos screamed, running through the maze. A ghostly haze was began to rise from the floor. _This is bad. Dammit! Okay Joos, prioritize. Find Amanda, find Josh, take care of Dusknoir- _Dusknoir materialized in front of Joos and threw his unconscious Eelektross at him. Joos was thrown back and slammed into the floor, unable to move. Eelektross's lights pulsed weakly. The same claustrophobic feeling had had felt earlier was coming back. The haze slowly filled his vision, leaving Dusknoir and his glowing eye in the center. He could barely move, his whole body trembled even under Eelektross's weight. Dusknoir was doing something to him to make him feel these things, right? He slowly reached for his Dex and typed in the commands as Dusknoir reached for him and the lines in his stomach opened into a gaping maw...

ACTIVATING HALL OF FAME - WAYDRN - CODE 10151519 - ELECTRIC POWER COUPLE 1

Light filled the area, pushing away the haze and disorienting Dusknoir. Electricity crackled through Joos and into Eelektross, energizing them both once again. Joos got to his feet, now wearing his battle armor. He wore full-body suit made of black foam. Lines of glowing, blue electricity flowed from the fuel cells laced into the fabric, to the palms of his hand. He held his hands about a foot apart and electricity danced between them. He stomped the ground with his black combat boots to get Dusknoir's attention. He pulled the hood over his head and the screen on the visor powered. The Ghost-type floated back, before lunging forward and grabbing Joos again. Joos pressed both of his palms onto Dusknoir's head, and the mental receptors in the hood released electricity into Dusknoir. Dusknoir released him immediately.

Eelektross also continued to spew acid at Dusknoir to lower his defenses. Dusknoir threw Shadow Punches at the Electric-type, but wasn't fast enough. He turned his attention to Joos and prepared an attack the Electric Gym Leader had never seen before. It was a mixture of pulsing, red light and a black aura. It fired as a blast that threw Joos into a wall. He slumped to the floor, disoriented. He shook his head and looked up. He must have been thrown pretty far because he could no longer see Eelektross or the Dusknoir. He switched to the night vision function on his hood and stood up. Then he heard a scream, one he hadn't heard in a long time, but sure hoped he'd never have to hear again, Amanda's. He took off running down the passage.

"This is so weird," Joos muttered, taking a turn. "None of this makes any sense." The maze was completely different from how he had remembered it, and he of all people would know, considering he had built it. "Doesn't matter. Got to find 'Manda." He continued down the path, noticing that a sinister purple haze was beginning to rise from the floor. He activated the air filter in his hood. You could never been too careful." Another scream, this time sounding like it came from Josh. Then Amanda again. The screams were getting louder, and increasing in length. Joos pressed both hands to his head in an effort to block out the noise, but nothing worked. The screams seemed to be erupting from inside his very mind.

He opened his eyes again and noticed the haze was completely filling his vision. Small orbs of light flitted around in a row. Eelektross? Joos reached out to touch his Pokemon, but felt a small wave of heat coming from the light. With a suspicious glance at the orbs, he turned on the thermal vision. Sure enough, blistering hot orbs of light were hovering in front of him instead of the cool bioluminescent glow of his Pokemon. _Will-O-Wisps, __probably that Dusknoir's trick. I wonder if he's responsible for the smoke too. _He ducked under the Will-O-Wisps and continued to run down the path. More screams started up and Joos began to sweat. He came to the junction where all the generators were, but they were all gone. _How is that possible?!_

"Noir," came a moan. Through the thermal vision he saw a cold shape appear a few meters away. He gritted his teeth and his hands moved to his hips, releasing the two metal disks latched to his sides. He held them up and prepared to throw them. Each disk was made of a sharp steel-alloy that had been experimented on with the magnetic properties of Unova's Chargestone Cave. This allowed them to be super lightweight and fly with maximum speed for maximum impact. They glowed a bright blue to match the veins on Joos's suit and had razor sharp edges. To top it all off, they crackled with electricity. As Dusknoir moved closer, Joos threw them forward with all his might. They whistled through the air, and at the last second Joos saw a large object being held up to block the disks. There was cry of pain and the sound of blood splattering on the floor. Dusknoir disappeared and the object fell to the ground. Joos switched off thermal vision. The haze was clearing and his heart almost stopped when he saw what he had hit.

Three even segments of electric eel-like Pokemon flopped weakly on the ground. Blood poured out of every opening, the bloody discs embedded in the floor a few feet away. Joos sank to his knees in front of his beloved Electric-type. The Pokemon he had been with almost since birth, the one that had kept him from getting homesick after their move from Unova, and the one that had helped him meet the loud and reckless Johto girl of his dreams. Here he was, dying on the ground of the place he called him. And then the most important thing registered in Joos's mind. It was his fault. _I shouldn't have been so careless. I should have known Eelektross would try and keep fighting. I should have thrown them at a different angle. This is all my fault and now Eelektross is- _Joos felt tears coming. He wasn't sure if he was reacting to this correctly. He had never experienced grief like this. Not when he had moved from Unova to Waydrn at age eight, or when he was forced to leave his home and train at age thirteen. Even when May died, he had felt more anger than sadness. He felt the familiar feeling of everything closing in on him.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, reaching out to touch Eelektross's head. The EleFish Pokemon's upper body lunged forward, gripping Joos's waist and hissing loudly and hit. Joos cried out and tried to break free of the Pokemon's grip. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He shouted, tears falling down. Eelektross began to cough, spraying blood all over Joos's suit. Joos curled his hands into fists and began to punch at Eelektross until he went limp and slid off of Joos, splashing in the puddle of blood. Joos knelt in the crimson pool, sobbing. Then the screams began again.

It was a constant ringing in his ears; Josh and Amanda crying out in unison. He swore he could hear the whimpers and cries of their Pokemon as well. "Get out of me head!" He screamed, trying to cover his ears. _Think, you have to get Amanda. Dammit, I shouldn't have brought Josh into this mess. Whatever's doing this has to have it out for me and Amanda. What would Amanda do? She'd...she'd fight back. No mercy, no prisoners, a full on assault. _He heard the sound of an attack being charged up. He spun around, grabbing the disks and rushing at Dusknoir and the projectile it was firing. "I'm going to kill you!" He screamed, slicing at the projectile and then at Dusknoir. He heard a sharp cry followed by a sugary sweet smell. Then a cry for help as the edge of a disk made contact with a person's face.

Joos was breathing heavily as he stared down at what used to be Josh's intact face. He grimaced and looked over at the dead Slurpuff. Two casualties of the cruel game Dusknoir was playing. "I'm sorry," Joos mumbled, oddly numb to the death of his secretary and an innocent Pokemon. He saw Dusknoir materialized behind him. "Let's end this!" He threw the disks like frisbees. They hit Dusknoir, but then something odd happened. Dusknoir disappeared, and a body stumbled back. Joos felt everything in his life crashing down as he saw mix of horror peeking through the messy blonde hair. Her glasses were crooked and her hands were clutching the two bloody disks in her stomach.

"No," Joos choked out. "Amanda no!" He wanted to reach for her, but he felt himself frozen in place.

"Why Joos?" Amanda whispered. "Why would you do this Joos? Why did you kill me?"

"Amanda please," Joos begged. "Just hold on."

"You killed me Joos. You killed me," her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she collapsed onto the ground. Joos felt himself capable of moving again, but once he reached the ground she was gone. All that was left was Dusknoir, hovering above him.

"How?" Joos asked, his voice breaking. "How are you doing this? This can't be real...can it?" He continued to stare into the burning red eye until he felt nothing but cold and despair.

* * *

Amanda continued to follow the odd trail on the floor. When she had arrived at the source of the crashing noise, there had been nothing. None of the control panels for the heating and cooling systems had been tampered with, despite the chilly temperature in the basement. Then she had found the trail on the floor. It was thick line about three feet wide that had been made by some heavy object being dragged across the floor. Upon further inspection, Amanda had found small particles of gold in the trail. So whatever had made the trail was dragging some heavy gold object. But that didn't make sense because as far as Amanda knew, there were no large gold objects in Energía City. And why would there be one in a Gym of all places?

She hoped Joos was doing okay. She hadn't heard much from the other end of the Gym, not that she could with all the equipment in the way. He was probably fine. It wasn't like him to rush into situations without thinking. That's why the two of them worked. He was the planner, she was the doer. Plan and Action. Unova and Johto. Amanda and Joos. You didn't earn the title Power Couple just for working with Electric-types. Okay, maybe you did, but that was beside the point.

The trail led to the junction where all the generators were. Ampharos's tail light shined on the trail like a flashlight, leading up to a large golden sarcophagus. _What the hell? What's this doing down here?_ The light rested on the blank eyes and face. Then they opened, revealing red eyes and black slits for pupils. "Surprise!" The sarcophagus bellowed, blasting at Amanda with Night Shade. Ampharos pushed her out of the way and illuminated the junction with a Flash.

A massive Cofagrigus floated above the generators, his four hands mere wisps of smoke in the bright light. His sharp teeth were bared and he murmured, "Lights out," before firing a Night Shade at Ampharos, turning off the Flash. Amanda was already activating Hall of Fame.

ACTIVATING HALL OF FAME - WAYDRN - CODE 11311441 - ELECTRIC POWER COUPLE 2

Amanda's battle armor was similar to Joos's, but not exactly the same, she made sure of that. Instead of a tight foam suit, she wore ceremonial robes with the same electric-themed colors and accents. She had a long, flowing hood and many layers of cloth interwoven to create a protective barrier that would also prevent overheating of the electrical systems. The same electricity producing gloves covered her hands. A utility belt was wrapped around her waist, serving as a holster for her main weapon. A small metal tube that held a long coil of metal rope, with sharp bristles. Using the static electricity stored in the hilt, or the regular current in her armor, she could effectively manipulate the rope's length and structure.

One of Cofagrigus's hands reached for her. Pressing a button, the rope whipped out in a loose state, electricity surrounding it as if it were in a solid state. The whip snapped at the hand, causing it to retreat as if it had touched a hot stove. Ampharos ran to her side.

"Now now," the Cofagrigus said in a surprisingly professional voice. "There's no reason anyone has to get hurt...yet. I'm not here to kill you," his promised. "I've come here to retrieve something. Two somethings."

"And what's that?" Amanda asked, feeling weird about replying to a Pokemon that spoke English.

"I need you and the other leader of this Gym to come with me," he said simply. "Just come with me, no harm done to you, and we'll be good." He offered his hand.

Amanda looked at it. "Pass," she pressed another button and the whip stiffened and shortened into a glowing sword. She sliced at the hand and Ampharos fired an Electro Ball at Cofagrigus. The Ghost-type grunted, but remained in his spot. "JOOS! JOSH! HELP!" She screamed.

"I was afraid you might say that. So I decided to bring some incentives." The "lid" of Cofagrigus's body began to slide off of the rest of him, revealing an unconscious person trapped inside.

"Josh!" Amanda cried out. The secretary wasn't moving and his eyes were closed. She remembered the stories Joos had told her about Cofagrigus. _Explorers that try to steal from them are eaten and turned into mummies._ "You sick bastard!"

Cofagrigus shrugged. "I've been called worse. So here's the deal. You and your boyfriend join me, and I won't turn your secretary into one of my many Yamask followers?" As if to prove a point, two Yamask emerged from Cofagrigus's body before drifting back inside. Amanda was still hesitant. She couldn't let Josh die, but there was no way she was going to let this creepy coffin take her and Joos away. Plus, she had no idea where Joos was.

"Oh that's right," Cofagrigus exclaimed, snapping his fingers. "The other Gym Leader is already ready to leave." A Dusknoir entered the junction, carrying Joos, who was curled up in a fetal position, his eyes a blank stare. Amanda felt her breath hitch.

"What did you do to him?!" She cried.

"_I _didn't do anything," Cofagrigus told her. "My friend Dusknoir here can be a little rough though. And a Night Shade/Confuse Ray combo makes for one hell of a nightmarish-hallucination. Although that shouldn't have been too bad. Maybe the Pressure ability. It has different affects on humans than Pokemon you know." Amanda raised her sword again. "But you must forgive my comrade. He's a simple reaper of souls with no real moral resolution. Our Master gives him a job, and he does it. Got to love the efficiency he brings to the table." Amanda glared at him.

"Let him go now!" She ordered.

"Only if you agree to come with me," Cofagrigus said simply. "Final offer or they both die." Amanda looked between Josh and Joos. Obviously she'd save Joos in a heartbeat, but Josh definitely didn't deserve to die. And how could she pull that off. It wouldn't take long to mummify someone as frail as Josh would it? Then she had an idea. She reached under her robes and typed a command into the Dex.

"Okay," she sighed. "We submit." She then threw her other two PokeBalls into the air, at the same time activating the automatic opening on Joos's PokeBalls. Galvantula and Electivire jumped at Dusknoir, while Amanda's three Pokemon charged Cofagrigus. Amanda dashed to her boyfriend and tried to snap him out of his funk. Nothing was working. "I'll come back for you," she promised after seeing Eelektross join the against Dusknoir. She fired a large jolt of electricity at Cofagrigus's lid to prevent it from closing on Josh. She jumped up and grabbed Josh with the whip, pulling him out. They collapsed on the ground.

"W-what happened?" Josh asked, slowing coming to. "Oh my Arceus!" He screeched upon seeing Cofagrigus and Dusknoir. "What's happening?"

"No time to explain," Amanda told him, "we need to fight."

"You don't really expect to stop us do you?" Cofagrigus chuckled. "I am an heirloom passed down in my Master's family for generations. I've lived for thousands of years, and served my Master's family for just as many. I was chosen to protect him from birth, and I will do whatever it takes to see his contracts fulfilled."

Amanda frowned. _Master? Contracts? This is getting really weird. _"Luxray, Fire Fang!" Luxray lept into the air, biting down on Cofagrigus with flaming fangs. The Coffin Pokemon tried shaking him off, but to no avail.

"Let's end this now," Cofagrigus decided, releasing his horde of Yamask from within his body. The tiny, mask carrying ghosts swooped down at Josh and Amanda, some of the weaping loudly in an attempt to throw them off their game.

"Now it's time to fight," Amanda ordered. "Can you do this?"

Josh nodded nervously. He gulped and sent out Slurpuff, an Eevee, and a Dedenne. "We'll do our best." Amanda nodded and the two went off into battle.

* * *

Amanda had experience fighting Doubles, she did it every Gym challenge. She had Luxray and Eevee stationed in the back so Luxray could blast Discharge and use Helping Hand to power-up Eevee's Shadow Ball. The orbs of ectoplasm were useful in defeating the Yamask and sending them retreating back to Cofagrigus. Josh wasn't as bad of a battler as Amanda had once assumed. He kept Dedenne and Slurpuff close together to power up the Fairy-type with Helping Hand and provide extra protection.

"Fairy Wind!" Josh ordered. "Dedenne use Parabolic Charge!" A blast of lightning hit one of the Yamask and then flew back into Dedenne, healing him. Amanda nodded, impressed with the tactics. Josh was a good pick for a stand-in Gym Leader.

Lanturn wasn't much help on land, but she illuminated the junction with her lights and was able to resist attacks with Aqua Ring and Stockpile. She sat in the middle of the junction like a mini-turret of confusion and death. Ampharos had Mega-Evolved, giving her not only the luscious white hair on her head and tail, but also the Dragon-type. Using Dragon Pulse she was able to inflict devastating attacks on Cofagrigus. She threw blue orb after blue orb, which Cofagrigus was surprisingly able to resist.

Shadow Balls, Fairy Winds, Dragon Pulses, and several Electric-type attacks flew through the air, helping to clear way the Yamask. Amanda jumped off one of the generators and landed on Cofagrigus. "Who sent you?!" She asked. "And what do you want from us?!"

"I've already told you what I want," he said simply, grunting as he was hit with a Dragon Pulse. "My Master sent me, and if you want his name you should come with me." Amanda brought her sword down on Cofagrigus's face. She was thrown off by one of the hands and landed next to Josh. He was fighting a few Yamask with his back to Cofagrigus.

"Look out!" Amanda yelled as a tornado of mysterious purple wind hit Josh, sending him crashing into a generator. Amanda got up and regrouped with her Pokemon. Slurpuff and Dedenne had been taken out by the Ominous Wind, and Eevee was easily flicked away by one of Cofagrigus's hands. Galvantula had pinned Dusknoir to the floor with electric threads and Joos other two Pokemon joined her in facing off against Cofagrigus.

"Impressive," Cofagrigus admitted. "It seems I've underestimated you. And as much I'd love to toy with you and eventually take you prisoner, I guess I'll be going now. Oh, one thing Dusknoir, kill him." Dusknoir phased through the threads and charged up a Night Shade/Confuse Ray. Amanda ran towards them.

"No!" She screamed as the attack hit Joos, cause his body to give a violent jerk before falling limp on the ground.

"Who knew it was possible to actually die of fear," Cofagrigus mused as Dusknoir joined his side. "Well I guess we'll be seeing you soon. Toodles!" His hands gave her a thumbs up, and with that, they disappeared before a single attack could be used.

Amanda fell down next to her boyfriend's body. She frantically searched for a heartbeat or a pulse. "Joos get up. Come on, please get up!" She begged. "Get up dammit!" She sniffed and slapped her hand hard across his face. No response. "Oh my god, please get up. Please." She shook him and could feel the tears running down her cheeks. This was it. The guy she had loved since that day they had met at the Pokemon League. The stupid Unova boy with his electric worm that cared way too much about her Johto ancestry to want her as more than a friend. The guy that she was never going to get to spend another day with...was gone.

"Amanda?" Josh asked, clutching his side and breathing heavily. "Is everything all right?"

"He has no pulse!" Amanda cried out. "His heart just...just stopped. And I don't know what to do. But he would know, he'd have planned out a way for this to work. He would think of a way to jump-start my heart or something-" Her voice trailed off as she stared at the electric-producing pads on the palm of her gloves. "Oh damn, this is gonna hurt."

"Are you sure about this?" Josh asked nervously, wincing with every breath. Amanda was able to tear open a part of her gloves' wrists, exposing wires. She did the same thing to the veins on her utility belt. She wrapped the whip around one of the generators and then the other around her waist. She placed her hands about six inches about, electricity dancing between them. She slowly rubbed them together.

"Clear," she whispered, before pressing her hands on Joos's chest and letting the power flow through her. "AH!" She screamed, arching her back as the electricity tore through her body on its way to Joos's heart. The shock subsided and Amanda whimpered, tears flowing down her cheeks. She couldn't stop to wipe them away as she pumped Joos chest and tried to resuscitate him. It didn't work. She rubbed her hands together again. She didn't care how long this was going to take. "Clear- NGH!" This time she felt like she was going to throw up, but it didn't matter as long as it meant Joos was alive. She continued her CPR, shocking Joos every two minutes. Every two minutes came a new wave of pain, but she was going to save Joos or die trying. Hopefully the former.

"This isn't working Amanda!" Josh cried. "You need to get out of here and call the Jennys." He grunted and reached for his Dex and dialed the number.

Amanda tuned out his call to the Jennys. "This will work. I'm not letting him die, not now, not ever! I've worked too damn hard to make this relationship work, and so has he." She mentally cranked up the power and released one final shock. She saw stars and her arms quivered as she pumped his chest. She placed his lips over his. "I love you," she gasped, trying to give him air. He erupted into a coughing fit causing Amanda to flinch.

"Amanda?" he gasped in a strangled tone, searching for air. "Amanda what's going on?" Amanda just stared at him, still crying. She wanted to hug him, but she was exhausted. She opened her mouth to answer his questions, but then she felt herself falling/ She collapsed onto the ground next to Joos, barely managing to press the emergency call button on her Dex before she completely blacked out.

* * *

**Damn, that got really heavy towards the end. This chapter wasn't as long as the past two, and I'm kind of disappointed about that. Amanda and Joos because now the Gym Leaders have to meet up again and do Gym Leader stuff. Well, the ones that survive that is. *Smirkity smirk smirk smirk***

**I figure since most of the GL's battle armor is being revealed, I'll sort of help explain what the ones revealed so far are based off of.**

**Chase - Fantasy RPG Archer Class/Wood Elf**

**Sam - Kind of his own thing, with a tricked out Captain America shield, oh, and he can ****camouflage**

**Pika - Elsa. There's no avoiding this one, her armor is really an amalgamation of various Pokemon Trainer Elsa art I could find to inspire me**

**Amanda - A Jedi, which explains the robe and the sometimes light-saber whip thing.**

**Joos - Those guys from Tron, hence the discs and super cool suit thing**

**Grace - Sort of original like Sam's, but mostly just an acrobat.**

**And we've still got three other designs to reveal, and I'll explain those when they come up.**

**Anyway, read and review! And if you haven't yet, vote on the poll :)**


	12. Eight Ninths of a Whole

**Hey worldwide web,**

**And we're back with another chapter! YAY! :D This time we'll find out the aftermath of the night before and hopefully find out if Chase, Joos, and whoever else was brutally injured and/or kidnapped is okay.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

The sun was too bright and Green's head was pounding. It was too early for this shit. He walked slowly from the Police Station to the hospital. He had spent the night in Extraordinärt City with Jimmy, Anna, George, and Kayla while the others were being treated. He had stayed up all night with Maggie getting diagnostics and statements from people in order to piece together just what had happened in the past twenty-four hours. Remembering the first call from Maggie about the events at the Shaky Ludicolo sent chills down his spine. The panicking of citizens as Gym Leaders were taken away in ambulances from various locations in Waydrn. Now he was going to meet with the hospitalized Gym Leaders to put together the final pieces of the the puzzle.

The Extraordinärt City Medical Center was the most advanced hospital in the world, and one of the few things Waydrn had to be truly proud of. It's height rivaled a few of the cities skyscrapers and it was wide enough to house many patients as well as discover scientific breakthroughs. The hospital had been a pet project of Sam's the minute he had started at the Gym, and Green remembered many meetings where Sam had explained in excited detail how the hospital was coming along. Walking into the lobby, he could see why Sam had been so excited.

It was a bustling open area full of people. A large fountain sat in the center, a stone Gyarados with water spilling out of its mouth. Ironic that such a destructive Pokemon was the center of attention in the hospital. Doctors, nurses, and patients moved through the lobby towards their respective rooms. It had that sterile odor all hospitals had. Green waved to the receptionist and turned down a hallway, holding his Dex up to the keypad and having it click open. He walked down the dark hall, going down a flight of stairs. He turned down another hallway that was lit by a single florescent bar. Maggie was leaning against the closest door, filing her nails. She handed him a cup of coffee.

"You're a lifesaver," he mumbled into the cup. She blushed.

"I haven't gone in to see them yet," she explained. "I figured it would be best if we both did it. You know, in case things get intense." Green nodded solemnly. Maggie reached for his hand, but he pulled it away. She frowned. "I'm sorry this is happening Green, but I want to help you. I really do." She opened the door and they went into the first room.

Pika was sitting cross-legged on the hospital bed, earbuds in her ears and watching something on her Dex. She looked up and pulled the buds from her ears. She was dressed in her everyday wear instead of the hospital gown Green was expecting. She didn't seem too worse for wear. A few scrapes on her legs and a cut on her left cheek that had completely healed without a scar. The doctors had told him she had been exhausted when they had taken her in, no doubt from the battle she had fought in. After getting fluids and some food in her, she was going to be fine. There were a few muscles strained in her fight, but painkillers could handle that as long as she didn't do anything to intense in the next twenty-four hours.

"Glad to see you're feeling better," Green said, and Pika just nodded. "Sorry I couldn't see you until now. Maggie and I were trying to get everything in order for her investigation. We need you to tell us what happened last night." Pika sighed and recounted the story about how she and Sam had gone to the party (leaving out their arguing and her planting the bomb) meeting Julius and Kate. Maggie began to jot down notes when she got to the part about the talking Spiritomb. Pika finished the story with her and Sam hearing the police radio.

"So which one was it?" Pika asked. Green and Maggie exchanged glances. "Grace? Chase? Arceus, please let it be neither of them. We should have never let her go. We never should have let her take him with." Green was caught off guard by the tears forming in her eyes.

"As far as we know, both Grace and Chase are alive," Maggie explained. Pika looked up at her, confused. "The fatality was that of the bartender that worked at the Shaky Ludicolo. Died in the explosion. Grace is just a few doors down, alive." She wasn't sure how to continue, and Pika noticed.

"And Chase?" Green felt goosebumps forming on his arms. Pika's tone was cold and strained. "How far do you 'know' about him being alive?" Maggie shot him a look, begging for help.

Green took a deep breath. "As you might have figured out, Grace and Chase were attacked by Pokemon. Grace was able to escape and fend off the Pokemon that attacked her, but there was a second Pokemon that attack Chase and took him."

Pika jumped off of the hospital bed, stumbling slightly after being kept in a bed for so long. "What do you mean they took him? Took him where?!" She pocketed her Dex and clipped her belt on. She made her way towards the door.

"We aren't sure where he is," Maggie said, stepping in front of the door. "That's the biggest issue we're working on at the moment. We need to piece together where the Ghost Pokemon came from and then we'll be able to track down a location. Running around trying to find him on your own isn't going to help us."

Pika scoffed. "I obviously wasn't going to do that, I was going to go give Grace a piece of my mind. She's obviously going to be your biggest clue in finding out who wants us dead or at least in their hands. Whoever you're looking for has an affinity for Ghost-types and owns a Spiritomb. Shouldn't be that hard to narrow it down."

Maggie was searching the Officer Jenny Trainer Database. "Well mono-type Trainers aren't uncommon, but I can narrow down that list significantly since Ghost-types are difficult to train and Spiritombs are almost impossible to control."

"Spiritomb also mentioned calling his Trainer 'Master' and that he had been passed down along their bloodline. Waydrn wasn't exactly known for its noble houses, but there's got to be one family that raised Ghost-types."

"Assuming this is a Waydrn-based attack," Green pointed out. "Kanto could be coming back after all of these years."

Maggie shrugged. "Yeah, there's a few noble families that raised Ghost-types, a couple of them managing to work with Spiritomb. Anything else you can tell us?"

Pika thought for a moment. "Actually yeah. Spiritomb mentioned he was working on a contract. Meaning whoever these Pokemon belong to was hired to do this."

Maggie groaned. "That could be any of these houses if the money's good. I'll get my Jennys working on monitoring bank transfers in case anybody's paid someone on the list. Thank you for your time Pika. Get some rest and we'll try and sort this out." Pika reluctantly returned to her spot on the bed and continued watching her show.

Once they were out in the hallway Maggie shook her head. "What's wrong?" Green asked.

Maggie looked at him, amused. "Don't tell me you haven't figured it out." Green shook his head. "Wow, for once you don't have an answer for this. You know, I should go buy a lottery ticket. Or at the very least make you promise to take me out for dinner if I'm right."

Green's face turned red. "Just tell me what you're thinking."

"Ghost-types? Contracts? A noble-house? Green what family is notorious for mercenary work and raises Ghost-types?!" Green's eyes widened. "Yes, the Oscura family, most specifically their last living member Heroi."

"Heroi was a Gym Leader before the war," Green recalled. "Back when Gym Leaders had to descend from Waydrn families. They claimed to do any jobs, but we're theorized to be working as assassins in other regions, being most popular in Sinnoh. Sam's from Sinnoh, so maybe he'll know something."

"Wasn't he in Sinnoh until like age four?" Maggie asked with a raised eyebrow.

Green nodded. "But that doesn't mean he still hasn't kept up with the times. I know I still check in on events in Unova after all these years, Joos does too." They went to the next room.

Sam had set up his Dex, tablet, and laptop on the hospital bed. He was furiously typing on each one, alternating between them as he went. PZ was managing another laptop and tablet. Sam spoke into an earpiece. "Tell them I'm I have no comment as I was not present for the incident at the Shaky Ludicolo, or the incident at the Energía City Gym. And I also have no comment on what happened at the Party, although I do send my regards to Silas's family. Thanks. Yeah, I'll be in touch." He clicked off the earpiece and leaned back in the bed, groaning as he did so.

"You seem to be working hard," Green commented. "But shouldn't you be resting? Last night took a lot out of you." Sam had been dehydrated and exhausted from the mental attack Spiritomb had unleashed on him. Like Pika, he had sustained minor injuries during the fight and was going to be fine, but he was confined to a day of bed-rest.

"I can't fall behind," he said with a shrug, sending an email. "The news is going mad. Three accidents involving Gym Leaders? Can't let them say anything bad about us, or my company." Maggie was now really confused. "Corporations control the media," he explained. "Or at least they try to. Those reporters are crazier than a pack of Poochyena." He continued to type.

"Right," Maggie said, shifting awkwardly. "Well we'd like to ask you some questions about what happened that night. We've already spoken to Pika, but we also need a statement from you."

Sam sighed. "All right, but I need to make it quick." He told a really quick version that was basically identical to Pika's story. He expanded on how he and Julius had evacuated the guests and mentioned that Silas was attacked by something before he came in to kick off the party. "I've been thinking about that, and I think whatever Pokemon was out on the grounds was responsible for transporting the Odd Keystone to the party."

Maggie jotted that down. "You said he had claw marks on him right? That narrows things down significantly. Not many Ghost-types have claws."

"Thank you Sam," Green said. He moved towards the bed and closed the laptop. Sam started to protest, but Green stopped him. "You're going to be helping us out a lot more if you recover so we can find Chase." He realized what he said a little too late.

"So it's true then," Sam said. "Chase was taken. That's a shame, but I doubt he'll be impossible to find. Maybe when I get out of here I can make an app for tracking concentrations of chlorophyll and see if I can pinpoint his locations." He yawned. "I'll get back to you on that," he muttered sleepily. Green and Maggie left the room.

"I've never actually seen you be the 'big boss' of the Gym Leaders," Maggie admitted, making air quotes around 'big boss'. She grinned slyly. "I like it."

Green rolled his eyes. "I see you've learned nothing from New Year's."

Maggie scoffed. "I learned never to try and get you drunk." Green nodded as they went to the next room. "Hey, how was I supposed to know giving you alcohol was going to make you call everyone a 'dodgy bastard' and start picking fights?"

"You weren't ever supposed to know," Green grumbled, opening the door into Amanda's room. She was still unconscious, hooked up to several machines that were taking measurements. The pulse on the heart-rate monitor was weak. Green looked down at the floor. Maggie put a hand on his shoulder.

"The Joys said she'll be fine," she reassured him. "She turned herself into living conductor to restart her boyfriend's heart. That's dedicated," she leaned close to whisper in Green's ear, "and very romantic." Green glared at her. "What? I said she'll live didn't I?"

"We'll have to get her statement later," Green decided. Aside from being knocked unconscious by the electric shocks, Amanda had a sprained ankle and several pulled and/or torn muscles. The Nurse Joys would be taking her to an operating room to fix her up with some Heal Pulses.

"They had a secretary who was attacked with them," Maggie told Green. "He got hit pretty bad by an Ominous Wind, but I was able to get his statement. He had some heavy internal damage, not sure if he'll make it or not." Green just nodded.

Joos wasn't looking too good in the next room, but he was alive and awake. Deathly pale and hooked up to almost as many machines as Amanda, he waved weakly to Maggie and Green. The doctors had taken his injuries and mental trauma as the result of a Night Shade/Confuse Ray combo. The combo produced extremely realistic hallucinations and if taken to far could stop someone's heart. It was a signature of the Oscura family, Maggie pointed out, although anyone could replicate it. In his hallucinating tirade, Joos had broken several bones and lost a lot of blood. Like Amanda, he'd have to be fixed up with Heal Pulses.

"What can I do for you guys?" He coughed.

"We were wondering if you remember much of what happened last night," Green said. "If you could tell us anything that could help us figure out who was responsible."

Joos sighed and tried to piece together what he could remember. "All I remember is heading down to the basement, getting seperated, and that Dusknoir. It was terrifying, I remember this light, and all this screaming. I couldn't think, I could barely move. I just had to find them." He heart rate monitor was spiking.

"You can stop if you'd-" Green tried, but Joos interrupted him.

"They were all dead!" he cried. "Eelektross, Josh, Amanda! And I killed them. It was all my fault." He was breathing heavily. Maggie called for one of the nurses. Joos's eyes bugged out. "Then there was this red light and it was like staring into death itself. I...I think I died last night..." He collapsed against the pillow and the Nurse Joys ran in. They wheeled his hospital bed out of the room.

"He's unstable," the head Nurse Joy called out. "Get him to the operating room stat. Chansey you're on Heal Pulse duty!" The head Joy's Chansey ran with the other nurses to operate on him. Green and Maggie stood in the now empty hospital room in shock. The head Nurse Joy looked at them. She was different from the others. She wore doctor's scrubs instead of the bright pink nurse's outfit, and she had a special access tag. Her hair, while pink like the others, was tied up in a bun. "He'll be fine once he's stable," she promised. "We take care of our Gym Leaders well."

"Thank you Nurse Joy," Green said.

"Please, Nurse Joy is just a title. My name is Rachel," she smiled warmly and left to the operating room.

"I don't like her," Maggie said once she was no longer within earshot. "She was making eyes at you."

Green laughed. "What? You're jealous? Maggie come on, you can't be doing this to every female life form that looks at me."

"Yes I can."

Green stopped before they reached the last door. "No, you can't. There's no reason to. I've said it plenty of times Maggie, I'm too busy. Maybe in a different life." He opened the door and went inside. Maggie reluctantly followed.

Grace began to sob the minute Green entered the room. Green knelt beside her bed and she threw her arms around him. Maggie rolled her eyes. "I tried to save him," Grace cried. "I really did. But there was this talking Rotom, and yeah I might have had a bit too much to drink, but then the whole bar exploded, and what happened to Noivern?!"

"He's up in the Pokemon Intensive Care Unit," Maggie answered. "He was in pretty bad shape when we found him, but he protected you from the blast and being thrown into your car."

Grace's eyes widened. "My car?!"

Green rolled his eyes. "Your entire team can fly, I see no problem in your car being destroyed."

"It was expensive!" Grace snapped.

"It was a birthday gift," Green corrected. "Look, we need to hear your statement about what happened last night. In full, non-hysteric, non-stuttering detail. So please, tell us." He sat back in a chair, Maggie standing next to him.

Grace sighed and told her story, from the moment they entered the bar to the last second before Noivern grabbed her. Maggie was jotting down notes the whole time. "So there, I was drinking. Go ahead, expel me from the League or make me go to counseling again. Just make sure you find Chase."

"Counseling wasn't even for drinking," Green said when he saw Maggie raise her eyebrow. "We're working on finding him, and your story's going to help us. Get some rest Grace, you'll need it. Because the first person I'm taking with me to find him is you." Grace nodded and Green left the room with Maggie.

"What do you mean she's the first you're taking with to find Chase?" Maggie asked suspiciously. "Green don't tell me you're going to go out looking for him." No response. "And you know I have no jurisdiction to stop you?"

"Exactly," Green said finally. "Once everyone's feeling up to it, I'm going to take as many people with me on a search for this. Right now I need to regroup with Anna, Jimmy, and George to figure out what our next move is."

"Anna and Jimmy?" Maggie laughed. "Oh, you're serious. No offense Green but they aren't exactly the most...capable of Gym Leaders. Or the most popular." Green raised an eyebrow. "Not that they aren't good people," Maggie added, "it's just...well every Gym Leader has their own thing. You're the leader, Grace is the pretty one, Sam's the brain, Pika's the...ice, and Chase is the nice one. Oh, and Amanda and Joos have their whole relationship thing going on. But Jimmy and Anna?" She shrugged.

"I see the potential in everyone," Green said simply as they exited the special hallway and went out to the common area. "Anna's resourceful as hell, and knows more about rocks than anyone I've ever met. Jimmy's literally able to mentally communicate with Pokemon."

"He's just not very good at it," Maggie pointed out. Green frowned. "Fine. Go talk to your Gym Leader pals and I'll go get the Jennys working on the case. I'll call you if I need anything." Green nodded as she walked off. He looked down and noticed that Jimmy had texted him saying he had taken Anna, Kayla, and George to the cafeteria. He went off to search for an elevator.

Heroi watched Green walk away from the hospital security feed. He had set up camp in Sam's apartment, watching from the window in his study. In the rush to get Sam to the hospital, his Porygon-Z had left the door unlocked, but the preliminary security systems online. Heroi wouldn't be able to touch anything without setting off an alarm, but that wouldn't be necessary. He just needed to bide his time. He had made the mistake of not dealing with the Gym Leaders personally and only ended up delivering one of them to the Fallen Four. Now he'd finish the entire set in one go.

* * *

Chase's vision was blurry and dark. His head was pounding. He blinked a couple times and a cold cement floor registered in his mind. He jerked his head up, staring at the matching walls of the room. A single metal door with a glass slit for a window faced him. A column of holes lined the left and right walls, small tubes sticking out of them. The tubes were moving up and down, making odd humming noises. _What the hell-_

"They're analyzing your bio-metrics," a voice said, and Chase looked around. A man was standing in the corner, wearing a lab-coat and twirling a knife between his fingers. "So if you cross the permitted area they know who to shoot. The name's Zane by the way." It took Chase a few seconds for the name to register.

"You," he whispered. The clicking of the wall-turrets kept him from lunging forward, even though he realized he was chained to the wall, spread eagle and above the ground. He feet were bound to said wall as well. "The rumors are true. The Fallen Four still live."

"In the flesh," Zane smirked. "Anyway, welcome to our humble abode. Or at least, part of our humble abode. You won't be seeing the rest of it for a while, if ever. I'm just here to make sure you're comfortable and that you know there's zero chances of escape," he rapped his knuckles against the wall, "but hey, knock on wood right? Or cement at least."

"What do you want?" Chase said flatly, trying to remain calm. He was trying to formulate a plan that would get him out of here, but it'd be useless to charge blindly without any information.

"Just you," Zane shrugged. "Well, you and your fellow Gym Leaders to be exact. Can't really tell you anymore, it's all hush-hush very secretive. See you!" He opened the door and waved at Chase before exiting the room and shutting it. The Grass Trainer looked around, the turrets pointing right at his head. He wasn't sure what they shot, but he didn't want to find out. His heart was pounding, he had to escape. The Fallen Four were so dangerous they were thought to be a myth. And he had just had a fairly non-hostile conversation with one of them. This day sucked.

On the other side of the wall, Donny, Brittany, and Chloe were waiting to hear what Zane had to say. "He's stable," the Steel Trainer explained. "Calmer than I expected. I want one of us to be on guard duty 24/7. Brittany you'll take first watch."

"Aw, what?" Brittany complained. "That's boring! Donny, take my place for me?" Donny shook his head. "Ugh, fine. Can I at least start interrogating him to figure out the other Gym Leaders' weaknesses. You can't just leave me all by myself." She frowned.

Zane sighed. "Fine, but only because I'd hate to find out what you do when you're bored by yourself."

Brittany glared at him. "Chlo, want to tag-team this pansy-ass bitch? Ha, get it? Pansy ass? Because he's a Grass-"

"I get it Brittany," Chloe sighed. "I assume the plan of attack is your usual method?"

"You got it. Let me set the scene, you just throw everything you've got at him!" Chloe nodded and leaned against the wall, her eyes closed.

"I shall let you begin with the rudimentaries, but do not begin with the actual interaction until I give the signal. Understand?"

Brittany scoffed. "Of course I understand. Question though, what's the signal?"

Chloe face-palmed. "The signal has never changed. It's 'the lungs split in two, the heart ripped in fours'."

"Why the fuck is that our signal?" Brittany asked. "It's more like a pass-code. I thought you'd be flapping your arms around or something." She shook her head in disappointment and pushed Zane and Donny out of the way. She slowly creaked open the door and sent out Skuntank. "Give me the best Haze you've got." Skuntank grunted and began to excrete a thick vapor from his pores. The vapor began to pour into the cell.

Chase's head jerked up as the gas filled the room. It wasn't toxic as far as he could tell, but he couldn't see a thing. Then, the overhead light turned off, plunging him into darkness. He felt a squeezing sort of pressure on his head. He couldn't move as his mind was invaded.

_They'll never come for me_, he felt himself thinking. _I'm going to die here unless I do what they say. I can't count on them to come rescue me...I'm too replaceable._

Outside the room Chloe grinned as she slowly began to fill Chase's mind with negative thoughts.

_Why did I think resisting was a good idea. I'm too weak, too pathetic, too meaningless. Maybe now they'll make me useful and give me a purpose. If I do what they say, I won't be so hopeless._

Giving someone a small sliver of hope in a mind filled with despair was always a good idea. Chloe felt another thread weave in with the web-like mental link she had created between Chase. His mind wad dormant and easy to ensnare. Chloe relaxed her soldiers as more threads began to wrap around Chase's subconscious. She'd break him within minutes.

_That fight was over before it even started. My strategy was less than sub-par and my battling skills were pitiful. The others are probably back at the base...wherever that is...laughing at how stupid I was._

Chloe frowned. He was keeping the knowledge of the Gym Leaders' base a secret. It was pointless since she already knew the location of Forum Island, but it would get annoying if he guarded anything else.

"She's taking a long time," Brittany noted.

"Give her a second," Zane ordered. "She's broken men with twenty-times as much strength as his, but he's a Gym Leader. They were trained by the best."

Chloe decided that the others were right. Things needed to be sped up. She knew just the words to snap him. Chase's mind would soon be completely trapped in her web.

_I serve no purpose with the Gym Leaders. Nothing I do has any true meaning really. The others see me as a chore, someone they keep on so they don't have to feel guilty. I thought I was strong...but I'm just a weak, sad, powerless kid who raises Grass-types, the weakest and most pathetic types that's out there...**NO!**_

Chloe's breath hitched as she felt the sharp pain of resistance. She felt one of her threads snap. That had been unexpected, but she'd put a stop to it.

_I try and pull off the whole elegant Grass-Trainer appeal, but I just end up looking like a big fa- **STOP IT NOW!**_

Chloe grunted and her eyes opened as several threads broke. The others looked at her worriedly. "I'm fine," she gasped. "He's just being pushy."

_The words I say have no meaning to them, they're just white noise that everyone ignores. **YOU WON'T WIN!**_

"It's just a little sting," Chloe reassured them. It actually felt like a molten piece of lead was ricocheting around the walls of her skull. She clutched her head, unable to fire off any negative thoughts as more threads broke off and disappeared. Chase was slowly undoing everything she had set up.

_**GET. OUT. OF. MY. HEAD!**_

There was a large snap in Chloe's brain as every possible mental connection between her and Chase was severed at once. Her felt her knees buckle and fell to the floor as everything went black.

"That little bitch!" Brittany shouted, pulling out her stun-gun and turned it on full blast. She kicked open the door to Chase's cell and charged at him, aiming the stun gun right at his chest.

* * *

"George I don't really see how you hope to find a dead body in here," Jimmy said as he followed his friend through the hospital. "It's a hospital not a morgue." Kayla and Anna were following behind him.

"You've just got to learn to talk to people," Anna said to Kayla. "And to do that, you need something to talk about." She produced a small list out from her pocket. "Now let's see. Anime?" Kayla just looked confused.

"Memes?"

"What are those?" Kayla asked.

"Perfect!" Anna grinned. "Now let's see...YouTube ships?"

"Again, what are those?" Kayla asked, growing frustrated. Anna shook her head. They made their way to a large room with theater-style seating and a large metal operating table in the middle. "What's this room for?"

"They bring medical students in here to observe surgeries," Jimmy explained. "I guess this one isn't being used right now. George we probably shouldn't be in here."

"But this is probably one of the best places to find a body," George pointed out. He was opening up cabinets underneath the examination table. "Nope, no-_body _is here." He laughed at his own joke.

"What's the point of teaching me to talk to people?" Kayla asked, sitting down with Anna. "I talk to you guys just fine."

Anna laughed. "You do not talk to us 'just fine'. You're rude and obnoxious." Kayla cocked her head to the side. "Those are bad things."

"Oh...see, you guys need to teach me the basics before you start forcing me to interact with people."

"Shouldn't you already know this stuff by now?" Anna asked.

"I was left with a Mawile and a cave full of VHS tapes for thirteen years," Kayla deadpanned. "How am I supposed to keep up with the times? Do people still say 'nifty' these days?"

"No," Anna said flatly. "Okay fine, I'll teach you the basics of life and all that. After all, who has more life experience than me? And then I'm showing you all my favorite YouTube ships." Kayla rolled her eyes.

Heroi watched the interactions through the small window of the room. He peered through the rifle-scope attached to his wrist. He wasn't allowed to purposely kill any of the Gym Leaders, and the Champion's daughter was definitely off limits. Heroi frowned. This was the heir to the League? She didn't really look much like May, probably getting most of her physical features from her father. _An effective excuse to keep her hidden away and under the radar,_ Heroi thought. He flicked on the laser dot and pointed it at George's head. Civilian casualties were perfectly legal. Heroi smirked.

"And that's why I never park on the left side of the street," George finished. Jimmy looked at him, unimpressed.

"George that story was completely pointless and made no sense! What even made you think of that? All I said was 'stop doing the whip on the examination table, there are minors in here'."

"Oh..." George said slowly. "I thought you said 'tell me why you never park on the left side of the street'. My bad, my bad." He backed up so he was in front of the window. "Anyway...I think I've narrowed down the locations for the body. First we..." Jimmy tuned him out as he noticed a small red dot moving up George's soldier and towards his temple. His eyes widened as he realized what it was. Jimmy lunged forward, pressing the shield button on his Dex as a gunshot echoed through the room.

ACTIVATING HALL OF FAME - WAYDRN - CODE 109131325 - MASTER OF DRAGONS

Jimmy stood with his back to the window, his brilliant dragon-skin cape thrown up to block the bullet (which was now lying on the ground near Jimmy's foot). He wore a ceremonial dragon-skin robe that had been dyed an ebony black. A metal helmet with two decorative horns was on his head. In his hands was a sword with a sharp, serrated blade. He pulled George away from the windows and motioned for Kayla and Anna to stay down.

Heroi swore, staring straight through the bullet-hole in Sam's window. The alarms hadn't gone off surprisingly. "Get down there," he hissed to Sableye, who had phased through the laser-fields in the display cases and started taking things. Sableye nodded and in a few seconds was phasing his way through the building to get to the hospital. Heroi moved away from the window and hid himself in another part of the apartment.

"What's going on?" Kayla asked worriedly as she was pressed against once of the walls with Anna. Jimmy and George were on the other side of the room, Jimmy contacting Green on his Dex. "What was that?!"

"A gun," Jimmy replied. "Somebody tried shooting George. Green's on his way and we'll be fine- what the hell?!" Jimmy's Dex was no longer in his hand, but in that of a Sableye. Anna's brow furrowed as she saw the Ghost/Dark-type. He looked familiar. Jimmy threw up his hands to black Sableye's sharp claws. He swung with the flat edge of his sword, knocking Sableye back into the wall.

Sableye shook his head to clear it and looked over at Kayla. He jumped towards her and collided with Mulan's fist. He jumped back and used Will-O-Wisp, sending five ghostly blue flames crashing into Mulan. While she was distracted, Sableye slid past and moved towards Kayla.

"Stay away from her!" Anna cried, swinging her pickax and blocking Sableye.

ACTIVATING HALL OF FAME - WAYDRN - CODE 114141 - GEMSTONE EXPERT

Anna held onto the gold handle of the pickax. At the bottom of the handle was a polished sphere of Water Stone. Her brown gloves gripped the handle fiercely now that her battle armor was on. Her top was a a simple white cotton shirt with padding around her shoulders. She was wrapped in a sort of brown cloth that made it's way down to her waist where her leather utility belt was. Below that was a thin but sturdy birdcage skirt adorned with metal spikes. She wore combat boots on her feet. Underneath all this flimsy cloth was of course a breathable and flexible padding.

"W-what are those?" Kayla asked breathlessly.

"Hall of Fame," Anna said simply, bringing the metal aviator's goggles down to cover her eyes. "Only supposed to be used in the most dire of circumstances!" She swung the pickax at Sableye again, only to have it blocked by Shadow Claw.

"I'm a dire circumstance?" Kayla whispered. Mulan pulled her out of the way of an incoming Shadow Ball and up to the viewing area. Kayla noticed the burns on Mulan's skin. "Oh, you're hurt!" Mulan shook her head. Kayla remembered her training from a few days ago. "We can help them together." Mulan considered the idea, looking down at the others fighting Sableye.

George had recovered from the shock of nearly dying and had sent out a few of his Ratticate to help. This was fairly pointless however, considering the Normal-types barely listened and never used any attacks that affected Sableye. To make things worse, the Darkness Pokemon would throw one of the Rat Pokemon at Jimmy, preventing them from effectively swinging his sword.

Anna was attacking head on with her pickax, but Sableye was too swift for her to actually land a hit. She screamed and raised her pickax high in the air before bringing it directly down onto Sableye's head. He grinned and phased through the metal. Anna tugged at the handle of the pickax, but it was now embedded in the tile of the floor. Sableye lunged at her, scratching at her face. Anna cried out, stumbling back and holding her bleeding check in her hand. Sableye landed on the end of the handle and blasted her with a Shadow Ball.

Kayla and Mulan jumped down from the viewing area and stared down Sableye. He giggled and lobbed another ball of ectoplasm at them. Kayla simply stepped out of the way, remembering what Sam had taught her. Sableye's eyes narrowed and he threw Will-O-Wisps. Kayla jumped in front of Mulan, taking a fire-ball to the shoulder. She grunted in pain, but remained calm. _You have to understand your Pokemon's pain._ Kayla rushed at Sableye, ducking down using her momentum to pry the pickax further from the ground. Mulan threw Sableye into the air and punched him with a glowing pink fist, a Play Rough attack.

"We should be using our Pokemon to," Anna said to Jimmy. She opened a Timer Ball and Crustle popped out. "Crustle, use Rock Polish." Crustle scuttled forward, rubbing his two claws together and managing to polish himself. He began to move a little bit faster. "Jimmy cover me while we use Rock Polish again!"

"You got it!" Jimmy said, throwing out his Altaria. The large cloud dragon fired a Moonblast at Sableye, but the Dark/Ghost-type was able to dodge. He rushed at George and began to bat away his Ratticates as they were thrown out.

"Stay away!" George cried, throwing whatever medical supplies he could at Sableye, only for him to phase through the projectiles. Kayla ran over to the examination table and noticed it was on wheels.

"Use Strength!" She ordered. Mawile punched the table and sent it flying straight into Sableye before he could phase. Anna took the opportunity to pull a strange looking pistol out of the holster on her belt. It was assembled using various metal tubes and coils of wire. An empty light-bulb stuck out of the back, which managed to open and place a Thunder Stone shard into. Sableye was running towards the wall and she fired the pistol. The shard shot into Sableye's back just before he phased through the wall.

The four of them were breathing heavily, but not too badly damaged. "At least nobody died," George laughed awkwardly. The door burst open and they all aimed whatever they had at the person entering. It was Green.

"What the hell happened in here?!" He asked.

Sableye limped up to Sam's apartment and Heroi shook his head in disappointment. The Fallen Four were not going to be happen about this. He searched Sam's office one more time for anything that he could bring to show them as a consolation. He reached under Sam's desk and felt a large disc-shaped object. "What's this?" He said, grunting with effort as he managed to pry off the disk. It was a small white disc with four blue lights. They began to flash and beep rapidly. Something inside the disc clicked. Oh no.

"Sableye!" The Darkness Pokemon cried, latching onto Heroi and using every ounce of energy he had to teleport them and the disc out of Sam's apartment.

* * *

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Zane shouted at Brittany. "You're lucky he's not dead or in some sort of coma!"

"Can that really happen?" Brittany asked curiously, playing with the stun gun.

"I don't know, I haven't been to medical school in years. But it probably could have happened," Zane sighed. Chloe was still unconscious in her room, recovering from her attempt to control Chase. The Grass Trainer was also still unconscious in his cell. Donny had left to train while Brittany and Zane were waiting to hear back from Heroi.

"He'll wake up eventually," Brittany reassured Zane, waving dismissively. "And when he does, I'll be ready."

"You won't be ready for interacting with him ever," Zane said darkly. "He didn't submit to a mental assault, so we need a physical one. And we both know that I can cause him so much more pain than you could ever hope to. Stick to communicating with the Observer and making sure the other two and Heroi are doing their missions. I'm going to go polish my surgical tools." He stood up and stumbled as the entire headquarters shook and a massive shockwave flew through the place. Glass shattered and papers flew.

"What the fuck was that?!" Brittany cried, running towards the source of the noise. Zane followed her through the base to the entrance area. Everything was broken and covered in a layer of frost. A body was slumped against the door.

"Heroi," Zane mumbled, running over to the assassin. "Heroi! What's going on?"

Heroi coughed. "They must have been expecting me all along. They had a bomb. It was either get blown up there and get caught, or come here and get blown up. I'll be fine...I think. I tossed it as far away as I could before it went off." He weakly pointed to a corner of the room that was completely destroyed. "They know we're after them, or at least they know someone's after them. It'll only be a matter of days before they come right for us."

Zane's glare began to morph into a terrifying grin. "That's exactly what we want."

* * *

**From writing this chapter I've learned that I do better writing fight scenes that involve as few people as possible. Still, we're getting a lot of action on both sides and still nobody's dead yet. Keyword, yet. Fun stuff! We also have two more battle armor designs.**

**Anna is based off of a steampunk girl as well as Lissa from Fire Emblem.**

**Jimmy is based off of Zinnia to an extent (her cape and her shoulder-scales) and from 'dragon knights' on Google Images.**

**Now all that's left is to find out what Green's battle armor is. But we'll find that out next chapter! As always, reviews are appreciated. See you!**


	13. Returning to His Roots

**Hey worldwide web,**

**Boy I almost missed the two-month deadline for this chapter, but hey, here I am. This chapter is literally the longest thing I've ever uploaded to Fanfiction and I'm super proud of it.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Green rolled over and his eyes shot open at the sound of someone snoring next to him in his bed. Maggie was two inches from his face, drooling on his pillow. "I really shouldn't be surprised by this should I?" Maggie continued to snore softly as Green poked her in the arm. "Maggie?"

"PUT YOUR HANDS UP WHERE I CAN SEE 'EM!" Maggie screamed, flailing her arms around and kicking Green in the face. She pointed a finger-gun at him. "Oh...it's you."

"Yeah, what the hell are you doing here?!" Green asked, his voice nasally from clutching his nose to make sure it wasn't broken.

Maggie just looked at him. "Funny, I always imagined in you as a briefs guy. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers." Green reached for a sheet to cover himself as Maggie hopped off the bed and went towards the bathroom. Green noticed she was still in her police uniform.

"Why are you in my house?" Green asked again, walking into his closet and shutting the door to change.

"I can't remember," Maggie admitted from the bathroom and Green resisted the urge to strangle himself. "I think I had something important to tell you?" She exited the bathroom at the same time as Green left the closet. "Got anything to eat?"

"That depends," Green said, standing in front of the door so Maggie couldn't get out. "Why are you here? Sorry if I'm not exactly wanting to run around my house with you trying to refresh your memory."

"I promise I'll remember when I get some food in me," Maggie promised. "Who knows, maybe we just had a really wild night-" Green just rolled his eyes and walked with her to the kitchen.

Maggie looked at the plate of steaming strips of...whatever it was, that Green had set down in front of her. She picked it with a chopstick. "Ugh...da fuck is this?"

Green winced. "It's salted and fried seaweed. You get a lot of it down here so I learned to cook it. It tastes great." He snatched up a piece with his own chopsticks and continued tending to the pan of seaweed still on the grill. Maggie just continued to brood and poke at her breakfast.

"Got any cereal?" Green shook his head. "You know I never learned to use these things," she waved around her chopsticks. "Johto people make eating way too complicated."

Green smiled. "In Unova we usually just put chopsticks on the table when we want people to think they're eating authentic Johtoan cuisine. Add some cherry blossom trees and shōji walls and you can turn a McTauros into a Golden Natu Buffet in three weeks."

"Ah Unova, the land of the capitalistic rich bastards," Maggie said with mock admiration. "No offense."

Green just waved it off. He took a seat in front of Maggie and took a bite of seaweed before continuing. "We left Unova even before I was chosen as a Gym Leader. Too much prosecution for being different. If you haven't noticed, I don't talk like most people from Unova. Plus my family bred Sharpedo for the Unovan military, which were non-native Pokemon. It got really bad as you can probably imagine. Mum and dad got it worse than me though, and my brothers were too young to remember." His fist clenched up.

Maggie put her hand on his. "You don't have to keep talking about them. I know it hurts-"

"-that they were murdered because I was chosen as the head of the Gym Leaders?" Green finished. Maggie just stared at him. "I'm sorry I never told you, but that's why they're all dead. And that's why it's my fault."

"How did that even...the investigation report said they were..." Maggie's voice trailed off. "The papers said terrorists had trained those Pokemon to "

"Back in the day, being a Gym Leader allowed you to edit police reports," Green explained. "Just let me tell you what happened. It was the day of our 'graduation' from the Gym Leader Training Program."

_All nine soon-to-be Gym Leaders walked down the glorious red carpet that filled the entire street. They were heading to the central plaza in __Extraordinärt City. The entire population of Waydrn was watching them from the sidewalks as they waved and walked with their Pokemon. The Gym Leaders carried the prototypes of thier weapons; Chase a simple bow and quiver, Anna a pickaxe, Jimmy a sword and his cape, Sam his shield and dagger, Pika her scepter, Amanda her electric whip, Joos his charged gloves, Grace her staff, and Green a gold trident. The Gym Leaders hadn't developed strong enough teams yet, their training course only allowed them to work with three Pokemon, but the three they had been with for years were enjoying the parade just as much as the others._

_Eventually they reached the plaza where a large stage had been set up. Each Gym Leader would go onto the stage one at a time, shake the Champion of Kanto's hand, and receive their official Gym Leader certificate. Afterwards there would be the signing of a peace treaty between Kanto and Waydrn, with the promise to leave Waydrn to its own devices so long as it didn't purposely hamper its advances or aid its enemies during times of war. The two regions were on bitter terms, but neither countries were in the condition to fight a way, with Kanto only just on its feet after the one eight years prior, and Waydrn finally having Gym Leaders since said war._

_Along the sides of the stage were special viewer boxes where the families of the Gym Leaders sat and watched the ceremony. Green spotted his mother waving down at him from the highest viewer box on the right. He took a deep breath and waited for his turn. Chase was the first to go up, his Vileplume, Cherrim, and Ivysaur following. Anna would be next, and they would continue down the line until they got to him. Green had been chosen as the Head Gym Leader due to his high scores on the training courses. He hadn't really gotten much say in the matter regardless._

_When Pika went up her Mamoswine (the stage had been reinforced for this occasion, Shellder, and Eevee, Green noticed the lack of security around the stage. There was nothing to prevent people from getting really close to the Gym Leaders as they walked from the carpet to the stage. He noticed Officer Jennys standing on top of the viewing boxes though, which made him feel a little better. An abnormally large number of Spearow had gathered at the ceremony, sitting atop the viewing boxes and on the Waydrn flagpole, and even on the small window sills of the viewing boxes. One landed near Green's foot and pecked at it._

_Finally they got to Grace. She went up with her Togekiss, Crobat, and Noibat. Green took a deep breath and waited for his name to be called. The other eight Gym Leaders were standing proudly with their certificates, waiting for him._

"In a matter of five seconds I lost almost everything that was important to me."

_The moment his foot touched the stage, an explosion rocked the plaza. Glass from one of the viewing boxes showered down onto the stage, smoke billowing form its large windows. Green looked up and his stomach twisted into a knot as he saw it was the highest one on the right. Lance threw out his Dragonite and shouted for his guards to seal off the area. He shouted for Green's help, but all Green could do was stare at the smoke coming out of the window._

_The other Gym Leaders took up arms. A stray Spearow flew at Lance, but his Dragonite pawed it out of the way. It hit the stage and exploded, nearly hitting Green if Seismitoad hadn't throw up a bubble to protect him. _

_"THE BOMBS ARE IN THE BIRDS!" Lance roared. "THE BOMBS ARE IN THE BIRDS!"_

_The Spearow had now taken flight, swooping down towards the ground trying to explode upon contact. The Jennys and Lance's guards worked together to shoot them down while the citizens fled. The explosion produced by a single Spearow was significantly smaller than the explosion in the viewing box, and with the right protection, one could survive. Unfortunately no citizens were protected and it was a race to get all the Spearow blown up before they could attack anyone._

_Chase took the center stage, picking off as many Spearows as he could with his arrows. His Pokemon released a storm of razor sharp petals, which was effective in taking out Spearows from a distance. Vileplume alternated from releasing petals to coughing up spores to slow the birds down. Cherrim provided boosts for her teammates as Ivysaur sniped with Leech Seed._

_Anna, only ten, wasn't sure what to do. Jimmy hoisted her up and put her on Druddigon's back. The duo charged out, Druddigon leaping into the sky and luckily catching up updraft that would allow them to glide around the area, hitting Spearows with a sword and a pickaxe, while Druddigon's wings protected them from the explosions. Carbink sprayed rocks at the Spearrow that they couldn't reach in time._

_Sam stayed with Pika, protecting her with his shield. Pika had resumed Green's role, as he was too stunned to do anything. She had her Pokemon spray any fires with puffs of frigid snow to put them out. PZ (at the time a Porygon 2), Lopunny, and Dunsparce worked together to get the people away from the Spearow._

_Joos had scaled the wall of the viewing boxes and was working on evacuating the Gym Leaders families. Eelektross undulated through the air, picking off any Spearow that got too close. Joltik was tucked into Joos's pocket, charging up his glove so it could be used without limits. Electivire was on the roof, using his tails to fry the Spearow and shut down the bombs in them without setting them off. He was having little success with the last part, but at least they were kept away from the civilians._

_Grace and Amanda were on damage and crowd control. Lanturn and Noibat were using Supersonic to disrupt the signals in the bombs so that they would either explode early or not at all. Ampharos led the civillains to the fallout shelters underneath the town with her tail light. Crobat tangled directly with the Spearows in the air, while Togekiss swooped down and carried people to safety. Amanda rode on Luxray, trying to pick up as many people at once._

_Seismitoad lifted Green up and jumped high into his family's viewing box. Green stumbled to the floor, staring at the bodies scattered about the place. His mother, his father, and all five of his brothers badly burnt and staring up at him with cold dead eyes. They glared at him, upset he had failed to fulfill his duties of being a Gym Leader on day one._

_A gun click and Green locked up to see the barrel of a pistol about twenty feet away. It was being held by the Head Officer Jenny, whom's name he wasn't familiar with. "Long live the Elite Four," she mumbled. She turned off the safety. Green shouted loudly and charged at her, slamming his trident straight through her chest. The gun fired, missing obviously and she fell to the ground, limp. Green removed the bloody trident from her chest and stared at her, tears beginning to fall down his face._

_"Pick yourself up," a voice said sharply. Green spun around and saw Lance standing at the edge of the room, near the broken window. "You have a region to run, and in the heat of battle there is no time for grief. Mourn later." Green said nothing. "These are Kanto birds, and I assume a million accusations are about to spill from your foolish, young mouth. But these are not my Kanto birds. And before you try and pin this on me, I'll remind you that a new Gym Leader killing a highly respected public official makes for bad blood. So wash off that trident and save your people. Play the hero act, and then you get your chance to mourn. And to ensure that I'm on your side, I won't be stupid enough to ask you to sign this peace treaty when we're through." His Dragonite landed next to him, picking him up and taking him back out into the fight. Green just stood there in the burnt room, unsure what to do._

_Water trickled from his Mantyke's mouth, washing the blood onto the floor. The trident was soon clean. Green nodded and let Seismitoad pick him up again. Most of the Spearow had been dealt with, but he wanted to get as much as he could from this fight now._

"That day there were seventy-nine casualties. Fifty-seven civilians, ten Officer Jennys, five Kanto guards, and my family. Ever since then...well...here I am." Green finished the last of his seaweed and noticed Maggie had been to fixed on the story to even start on hers. "Sorry, this isn't exactly a conversation we should be having."

"No," she said softly. "I'm glad you told me. I feel...like I can share your pain. That way you don't have to be the only one that knows the true story. It'll be you and me-"

"And Lance," Green said with a laugh. "If the story ever got out, he could have me thrown in Ogygia if it was still in use." Maggie gasped. "What's wrong?"

"I remember what I had to tell you," she whispered. She grabbed her plate and Green's hand, dragging him out to the kitchen. "Come on!" She led him down the hallway to the room where Green kept his computers. He used them mostly to monitor the conditions of the ocean and communicate with the other Gym Leaders without leaving his Gym. "I know where Chase is."

* * *

Green's Gym was only accessible via a Pokemon that knew Dive or a submarine. So everyone had sort of figured out, by the time the eight of them all managed to find a comfortable position sitting on Pika's Cloyster, that it would have been better to hire a submarine. Nonetheless, Cloyster formed a bubble of air around them and used Dive. The Gym itself was breathtaking. A large, ornate castle with Roman arches and made from a luxurious marble. The large central courtyard, where the battles took place, was surrounded by a large glass dome. The swarms of Lumineon circled around the dome, illuminating it when they saw visitors. Cloyster knew to stay far away from them. They were as vicious as piranhas when they wanted to be.

Cloyster landed at the the entrance, a mechanical door that opened to an air lock. Once they water had been drained from the room, they walked to the courtyard where Green's Pokemon were playing a game of cards and snapping at one another in the language all Pokemon understood.

"Can you understand what they're saying?" Anna asked Jimmy.

The Dragon Trainer rubbed the back of his neck. "Well they're not Dragon-types, so not really. I think Seismitoad's upset because Tentacruel and Crawdaunt were passing cards and Sharpedo's pissed because Lumineon's told him to 'Go-Fish' for the past five turns and he's pretty sure she's cheating. Mantine's just asleep." Indeed the manta-like Pokemon was snoring softly, all of his cards clearly visible.

"Damn, he's a got all four kings," George observed. "I'll sub in for him." He patted Mantine's fin and picked up the cards. In seconds he was arguing loudly with the rest of the Pokemon. Pika, Jimmy, Sam, Anna, Grace, Kayla, and Amanda made their way across the courtyard and up the stairs to the computer room. Maggie and Green were hunched in front of a monitor.

"What are you guys doing here?" Green asked, surprised.

"I called them," Maggie remembered. "They helped me find out where Chase was."

"Well it was mostly just me," Sam corrected. "The others just came along for part two of the plan."

"There's a plan now?" Green raised an eyebrow. Sam moved over to the computer and pulled up a map of Waydrn on the screen.

"This is Waydrn," Sam explained. "Obviously. Remember saying I would search for concentrations of chlorophyll in a hope to look for him? Yeah, turns out that shit is everywhere in Waydrn, so I ran a reading on where Chase's pheromones had most recently been. Unfortunately that search field was too specific and it couldn't nail down even a relative location." He continued typing.

"How did you all get here?" Green asked, still really confused. Pika just held up Cloyster's PokeBall. "And shouldn't Amanda be in the hospital still?"

"We broke her out," Anna said proudly. "I stuff Carbink under Kayla's shirt and had her pretend she was about to give birth."

"I'm like thirteen but people say I look twenty," Kayla said with a shrug. "It worked."

Amanda sat down and waved weakly. "I'll be fine, they were going to release me this afternoon anyway. Joos is still going to be recovering for a few days and I don't even know what's happening with Josh."

Sam pressed the Enter key and the map of Waydrn changed colors. Everything was grey-scale save for a bright red dot where the bar that Grace and Chase had been attacked at once stood. "This was where the Drifblim took Chase. Since Drifblim can't teleport, odds are someone would have seen a Drifblim carrying a person flying around in the middle of the night. So I referenced the area with any planes flying around that noticed a Pokemon flying near them. And I found one report right...here." Another dot appeared above the ocean. "This plane was flying from Kalos to Waydrn and noticed a large 'balloon with a face' carrying an unidentified object."

"Wouldn't they have known it was a Drifblim?" Kayla asked.

"Drifblim and their pre-evolution Drifloon aren't native to Kalos," Pika explained. "They're native to Kalos and Sinnoh."

"Heroi was from Sinnoh," Green whispered. "Where did they report the Drifblim?" Sam was already typing in commands. A large green circle appeared in a random spot of ocean. "The Drifblim appeared and disappeared from view in this area. The plane's radar should have still picked it up at the point it disappeared so there must be some sort of interference. A cloaking device or something. And there's only one piece of land in this area." He zoomed in.

"Ogygia Island," Green said.

"What's Ogygia?" Kayla asked.

"Ogygia Island Penitentiary," Maggie explained. "Prison island for only the most serious of crimes that wren't fitting of the death penalty. But uh, we don't use that anymore and Ogygia's been out of use for decades. Lots of violent deaths happened there; people say it's haunted. They tried rebooting it about ten years before you guys started your training but it fell through. Too many deaths of workmen during the renovations." They all stared at her. "What? I had to study criminal law to get this damn job thank you very much. We aren't like some regions that put total fucking morons in charge of our law enforcement okay?!"

"Okay, okay, calm down," Green said. "So we think this Drifblim took him to Ogygia. So what? Are we going to assemble a war party to storm the shores and get him back?"

"That's phase two," Grace smirked, stepping over to him. "We're setting course for Ogygia Island in five hours." Green immediately opened his mouth to protest, but Grace continued. "Not all of us, mind you, but Maggie's got a friend and most of us are coming along. You get to make the final decision though, but it's not like we won't sneak off and do it anyway."

Green just stared at all of them. "Why me?"

"You're our leader," Jimmy said. "We follow you to hell and back, especially if it's to save one of our own. So what'll it be? Who's going with?"

Green sighed. "Amanda you'll have to stay behind, there's no way we can effectively go up against whatever's attacking us with you in the condition you're in."

"I understand," Amanda nodded. "But I'm not going back to that hospital. I'll be fine here and I can relay information through the computers if that's alright with you."

"Sounds good," Green replied. "Okay, Grace I promised you the first spot on the rescue mission so you're coming along. Jimmy I want you to be here too. Sam, if you think you'd be better out in the field than back here, I'd like for you to come. Pika, same thing. Anna..." The girl looked up at him excitedly. "I want you to stay with Kayla in Extraordinärt. Go to the Johto Quarter and look for the Kimono Studio. You'll be kept safe there and it'll allow Kayla to keep training." Anna sighed and looked over at her friend, who wasn't exactly thrilled to keep training. Green looked over everyone in the room. "I guess we should grab George on our way out, and that should be everyone."

"What about me?" Maggie asked with a smirk. "You'll need authorization to chart a course to Ogygia, and it's _my _friend who's lending you the boat and his services. But don't make any crazy offers, I'll gladly charge into battle by your side." She winked and Green refused to make eye-contact.

"Let's just go," Green mumbled, walking towards the door.

"I ship them so much," Anna whispered to Kayla.

* * *

Chase woke up to the feeling of cold steel pressed against his neck. His head was pounding and his limbs tingled. Still aware of the metal, he glanced over to see Zane at his said, nonchalantly holding the knife up to his neck. He would have flinched if the knife wasn't poised to take out his jugular. Instead he looked over at the man who was staring at him like he was a cadaver on a table. Zane had the same calculating look that he had often seen on Sam and Jimmy, but this one was softer. Like he wasn't looking for weak spots to make you crumble, but rather watching out for the spots he had to avoid. Like a doctor, who held a life in his hands and was unwilling to let it go.

"Oh good, you're awake," Zane said, not removing the knife and still looking at him. "It was worried Brittany had done more damage than I had initially accessed." Chase just glared at him. "Now now, don't give me that look. I'm the reason you're still alive."

"You're just going to kill me anyway," Chase said darkly. "Why shouldn't I spend every second fighting for my life?"

Zane rolled his eyes. "Except I'm not going to kill you. No need while we still have all your friends running around and our boss need them."

"So they're alive," Chase said hopefully. Zane swore. "And you're working for someone." He swore again.

"Maybe we'll do things differently," Zane decided. "I'm going to ask you questions and you're going to answer me. If not, we'll see just how close to death I can bring you. Question number one, which Gym Leader is the weakest?"

"Technically me since I mostly get the new trainers," Chase said honestly.

"What can we do to bring the other Gym Leaders to us?"

"Go to hell and ask them to meet you there?" Chase suggested. Zane flicked the knife, making a small laceration on Chase's jaw. It looked like he had cut himself shaving. Chase winced, but said nothing.

"My bad," Zane lied. He pulled out a small jar of yellow fluid. "I've got something for that." He pressed a finger against the cut and Chase immediately grunted as a burning pain seared through his jaw. "Whoops, this isn't the disinfectant, this is a solution of lemon juice and salt of my own invention. Oh well, when life gives you lemons you squirt the lemons into the wounds of your enemies." He laughed maniacally. "Care to answer that question again?" Chase shook his head and Zane applied more of the solution. "That's fine. I know just how much blood you can lose before you die."

It went on for hours. Zane would ask a question and Chase would refuse to answer. With every refusal, a new slash would be made somewhere and more of the liquid would be applied to it. When Zane had finished making small cuts on Chase's face, he moved on to his arms (avoiding vital arteries and veins of course), then his legs, and then he doubled over the old cuts.

"Well this is disappointing," Zane admitted. Blood was pooling at the floor and covering Chase's body. His arms and legs were spazzing violently in their confines and his body was nothing but pain. His vision was blurry from blood-loss and he could barely speak. "So far all I've learned is that you really _are_ the weakest of the Gym Leaders. You really think any of the others would be in this position? No, they'd be smarter and give me the information I need. But that's okay, I'm sure my boss will appreciate eight out of nine." He pulled out a small syringe. "Sodium thiopental, a truth serum of sorts. You'll have about a minute where you won't be able to lie and then your heart will explode. So it's up to you. Answer this one question or die! What can we do to get the other Gym Leaders to come to us?" Chase stared weakly at him. "Come on, tell me the truth and all this pain can be over."

"I'd rather die for them than be the one who sells them out to the likes of you," Chase whispered. Zane shook his head.

"Wrong answer!" He brought down the syringe, but at the same time the door to the cell was kicked up. Zane pulled back and spun around to face the intruder. It was Heroi.

"Look alive, we've got bogeys!" He said. "About twenty-miles off the western shore. Looks like they're coming for him after all." Zane turned to follow him, but looked back at Chase before he left.

"From this moment forward," he said coldly, "every ounce of your pain will be at my blade. I'll make sure of that." He slammed the door shut and followed Heroi to the prison's battlements.

"Were you really going to kill him?" Heroi asked worriedly. Zane tossed him an empty syringe.

"Sodium thiopental's too expensive for a fugitive these days," Zane explained. "Mind games are much cheaper. Who do you have guarding him?" They soon met up with Chloe and Brittany. "Oh, figures."

"I didn't know where else to put him," Heroi admitted. "But Donny will do a fine job of guarding him, I'm sure of it."

"I can sense them moving in," Chloe said, pointing out west. "They're moving pretty fast, we need to get ready. Call the Observer, tell them we're close to getting them." She turned off the safety on her pistol.

"Are you okay?" Brittany asked.

"I'm fine," Chloe spat. "But if they're going through all this trouble to get that worm we have locked up in the basement, they're going to regret it. Let's start with making sure they never even reach this place."

* * *

The boat bounced up and down as it moved towards Ogygia. A thick fog wrapped around the small research boat and blocked everything but the close surrounding objects from view. Green, Pika, Maggie, Sam, George, Grace, and Jimmy were all holding on to something as the boat continued to rock. The vessel was being commanded by Maggie's friend. He was a scientist, a chemistry major that taught at the university in Naga City, but he sometimes helped the Jennys out in the forensics lab. He was currently holding tightly onto the wheel of the boat, turning it.

**Dakota the "Toxic Analyst" - ****Scolipede, Gengar, Roserade, Draglage, Toxicroak, Swalot**

**_pH Badge - _**_It takes a certain kind of person to work in a lab, and Dakota is always up for the task. Or I guess you could say he's up to the _flask. _Heh, ahem. Dakota knows his Poison-types like the Periodic Table and you shouldn't be surprised if he's calculated the outcome of your battle before it's even begun!_

"We're making decent time," Dakota announced. "These waters are bad, but this weather makes it easier. Just don't plan on going for a swim unless you want to end up in the belly of a Sharpedo. Those things are everywhere."

"I know," Green said happily, watching as a dorsal fin momentarily broke the surface before disappearing back under. Sharpedos were excellent for preventing escape.

Sam sat next to Pika, his moody silence even moodier than before. "Uh, something wrong?" Pika asked awkwardly.

"Nothing," he said simply, "just that when I agreed to marry you I wasn't aware that you had planted a bomb in my apartment."

Pika's mouth dropped open. "How did you even-"

"PD found it before we left for the party, but only told me about this morning." Sam looked away. "I thought you trusted me, and that I could trust you."

"You can trust me," Pika assured. "I did that in case something like Heroi using your apartment as a camp ever happened. Granted it was supposed to happen when I was aware of it, but hey, it still worked."

"You were also notified when it went off," Sam pointed out. "PD figured out that much. I don't suppose it told you where it was set off did it?"

Pika sighed. "I haven't checked yet." She pulled out her Dex. "Ah, there it is. Ogygia Island, on the western side of the island, which is where we're heading. Guess I should have..." her voice trailed off.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"Something's coming!" Pika shouted. A sharp avian cry echoed through the water and a large buzzard-like Pokemon swooped down at them. A Mandibuzz. Grace pulled out her staff and swung at the Dark/Flying-type, keeping it away from the boat. It disappeared back into the fog.

"It'll come back for another round soon," Grace warned, sending out Togekiss. "I'll chase after it."

"No!" Green ordered. "It wants to scatter us. We won't all be able to fight it unless-"

"Sigilyph!" Cooed a Pokemon that looked like a mysterious, glowing, dream-catcher. the Psychic/Flying-type launched a barrage of psychic energy at the boat. Pika launched an ice capsule at it, causing it to retreat like the Mandibuzz.

"Dakota stay down there," Maggie said. "Green's right, we can't all be up here." She looked over at the Water Trainer. "You, Sam, and George inside with Dakota and make sure he can keep steering the boat. The rest of us will be just fine." Green sighed and joined the other four in the cabin with the wheel.

Maggie, Pika, Jimmy, and Grace all stood at one of the four sides of the boat. Mandibuzz and Sigilyph were still out in the fog and they didn't want to risk anyone else dropping in. Grace had the rear, with Togekiss perched on the back railing, ready to fire a Moonblast. Maggie was on the left with her Mega-Evolved Manectric. Pika had sent out Weavile hoping to be a full opposition to the Sigilyph. Jimmy was at the bow of the boat, keeping watch and ready to send out any Pokemon that he deemed fit for battle.

The first strike came from the rear. Mandibuzz dive-bombed Grace, firing at her with Dark-Pulse. Togekiss took the brunt of the attack and threw Mandibuzz off the boat with her wings. She generated a large orb of pink energy and fired it at Mandibuzz, striking the Bone Vulture Pokemon.

Sigilpyh then materialized right in front of Maggie, catching her off guard. Manectric barked and summoned a clap of thunder to warn Sigilyph to keep it's distance. Instead of fleeing like Mandibuzz, it just stayed there, floating and keep pace with the boat.

"That thing's fucking creepy," Maggie muttered. "Electro Ball!" Manectic coughed and a ball of electricity pushed Sigilyph back into the fog.

Jimmy's eyes narrowed as he spotted something though the fog. A bright red object was rushing straight towards the boat, two bright glowing objects at its sides. Jimmy took a deep breath and tried to sense its heart. His eyes, which he hadn't realized were closed, shot open when he got something as feedback. "A Mega Scizor!" He shouted. "It's going to cut the boat in half!" He pulled out a Dusk Ball. "Morsmordre go!"

"Hydreigon!" Snarled the Dark/Dragon-type as it hovered above Jimmy.

"Tri-Attack!" A blue, red, and yellow orb appeared at each one of Hydreigon's heads. The orbs connected and a triangular projectile spun rapidly towards the approaching Scizor, who just took the hit and didn't slow down. "Okay then, Surf!" A large waved crashed onto Scizor, but only momentarily set it off balance. Jimmy swore. "Why was the only Fire-type move you know Fire Fang? I need backup!"

"Grace cover for us!" Pika shouted as she and Maggie met Jimmy at the bow. Scizor was getting really close. "I have an idea, but we'll need an Electric-type, Ice-type, and Fire-type."

"Emolga," giggled a small flying squirrel Pokemon. It belonged to Grace and was her stand-in while Noivern was recovering at the Pokemon Center.

"Okay, you'll do," Maggie said, sending out her Arcanine. "What do we need to do."

"We're going to make a boosted Tri-Attack," Pika explained as Weavile stood on her shoulder. "Jimmy you'll need to set up the base, let us do the boosting."

"Right," Jimmy nodded. "Tri-Attack!"

"Ice Shard!"

"Flame Burst!"

"Emolga!" Boosted by the three elemental attacks, the Tri-Attack did maximum damage, hurting Scizor. Jimmy followed it up with Surf, with Pika, Maggie, and Emolga adding their own attacks to it. The barrage of attacks continued to wear down Scizor's defenses, but it was doing no good. Scizor was just feet away from the boat's hull when a large mass of kelp and seaweed wrapped around it and pulled it underwater.

"That's a good Dragalge!" Dakota cried from the cabin. As his Pokemon and Scizor wrestled around the water, they were able to send Mandibuzz and Sigilyph back to the island. Dakota tried steering the boat around the two fighting Pokemon, but Scizor emerged from the water long enough to slash open the hull. Water began to fill the bottom of the boat.

"Abandon ship!" Dakota cried. Satisfied with his work, Scizor zoomed back towards Ogygia, leaving the others to hopefully drown. The boat began to tilt forward and Green sent out his Pokemon.

"Make as many waves as it takes to get us to shore!" He shouted as sea-water sprayed his face. They got to work making the waves with the help of Hydreigon. "Everybody hold on tight!" Green reached for Maggie's ahnd and the metal railing as the boat was pushed towards the rocky shore. There was a deafening screech of metal on rock and the sensation of being thrown face-first into the sand, followed by black.

* * *

"So this is what Johto is like?" Kayla asked as she walked with Anna down the Johto Quarter of Extraordinärt City. The streets of the quarter were lined with pagodas and traiditonal Johto architecture. Vendors and feet carts filled the place and tourists were indulging themselves on anything and everything.

"Not really," Anna admitted. "This place is so gimmicky, but it's a moneymaker. The food's actually pretty accurate though, rice balls and sushi. The workers are all of Johto descent too, surprisingly. They sort of look like you."

"My mother was from Johto?" Kayla asked in surprise.

"Eh...sort of," Anna said, shaking her hand in a so-so motion. "Half Johto, half Kalos I believe. They say that's why Kanto had such a problem with Waydrn back during the war. But yeah, you've definitely got some Johto in you, a lot of it. Maybe your dad was from Johto." Kayla nodded solemly, not really wanting to talk about her family anymore.

The two girls soon reached the Kimono Studio, a large theater in the center of the Johto Quarter. Anna's expression turned sour as they entered. The inside was open and filled with small tables where guests knelt or sat on mats to eat. At the back was a large stage where four girls in flashy kimonos were dancing or playing instruments. Anna visibly relaxed upon seeing them. "Oh good, she's not here."

"Who?" Kayla asked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing much, there's just a performer here that I don't get along with," Anna explained. "She's filling in for Sam at the Gym, and that's probably where she is now. Let's hope she stays there." They took their seats and got ready to watch one of the shows.

"What's wrong with her?" Kayla asked as the four girls brought them food.

Anna shook her head. "Just remember...never trust a geisha that pretends to be a swan."

The lights turned down and the music stopped as the four Kimono Girls took their spots in front of the curtains. A spotlight focused on the four of them and someone from behind the stage blew into a flute. The girls began to spin slowly and wave their arms, flapping paper fans as they danced. They were trying to appear elegant and graceful, but Kayla could tell they were off beat and not in unison. Someone in the audience yelled "Boo!" When a girl stumbled on the stage. Then, the music stopped and the curtain opened. A fifth dancer entered the stage.

"Fuck, she is here," Anna mumbled. "Think this napkin will hid my face?"

"Who is that?" Kayla asked. The girl was older than the other four dancers, and her kimono was faded and less flashy. In each hand was a black and white fan. She began to slowing wave them, flapping her arms up and down like a bird. She twirled around a bit before stopping and bowing with the other girls. The rest of the audience clapped, but Anna just shrugged and ate some noodles. "Who is that?" Kayla repeated.

"I'm Bella," the girl introduced herself, now standing over the table. "And you must be Kayla."

**Bella the "Kimono Girl" - ****Eevee, Umbreon, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Sylveon**

_**Options Badge **\- Bella isn't one for conventional battling. I mean, have you seen her teams? Eeveelutions are so last year. Bella likes to treat battles as practice for her shows, more concerned with dazzling her audiences than really winning._

"How do you know my name?" Kayla asked, reaching for Mulan's PokeBall.

"Green called ahead and told her we were coming," Anna said glumly. Bella ignored her.

"Well come on then, I'll show you the Gym." Kayla and Anna got up from their table and followed Bella out back, where a zen garden had been converted into a fancy battlefield. "Well then, hop to it. Green said you needed to train, so I'll help you." Bella pulled out a PokeBall. "Let's begin!"

So it turns out that having a super gimmicky team can still be useful, especially with a wide range of typings and attacks to choose from. Mulan handled most of Bella's Pokemon well with her Steel/Fairy typing, but Flareon gave her trouble. Not to mention Bella had a habit of combining attacks and using the rest of the garden to distract Kayla and land a direct hit. Like when Jolteon had leaped over Mulan and into the branches of a cherry blossom tree. He had used the petals to disguise a Pin Missile attack than Kayla only realized too late. Or when Vaporeon had created so much mist that she was able to literally turn invisible at will. Anna was impressed that Kayla had really been learning from all of her training as she managed to hold her own against all of Bella's Pokemon. Eventually the Kimono Girl had had enough and was ready to take a break.

"You did excellent," she complimented, retrieving bottles of water for the three of them. "Although that's to be expected with such brilliant tutors."

"You were good too," Kayla said politely.

"It was alright," Anna grumbled.

Bella frowned. "You know Anna, just because you weren't picked to go on their rescue mission doesn't mean you have to make the rest of us feel bad."

"I'm tried of being useless because I'm the youngest," Anna snapped. "Chase is my friend too! And now Kayla and I are stuck here with _you_ instead of helping him. Like I said, useless." She slumped against the table they were sitting at.

"How would you even help them?" Kayla asked. "We can't just swim to Ogyg-whatever-ia."

"I'd go search Chase's Gym," Anna explained. "See if he had anything there that might be useful."

Bella sighed. "I guess we could go there. Umbreon!" The black Eeveelution ran over to her. "Teleport us to the Gym in Forêt City."

"Umbre," the Dark-type said. Bella snapped her fingers and they quickly disappeared and then reappeared in the middle of Chase's battlefield. A large wooden circle surrounded by huge branches twisting upward toward a plant-covered dome. At the challengers end were two doors. One leading to a large turning slide and the other to a twisting staircase. At the Gym Leader's end was an enormous, pink flower. Normally opened-up and vibrant, today it was a sad, pale shade and all closed up. The rest of the plants were thriving, as Chase's automated care system was still on, but they all sat in their spots looking quite sad for plants.

"It's like they know he's gone," Kayla whispered, reaching out to touch a vine and watching it twist away from her hand.

Bella sneezed. "Ugh, this pollen's too much for me. Yes, the plants aren't really sad, they're just being influenced by the Pokemon that Chase keeps here at the Gym. They're the ones that are truly sad."

"Chase does take good care of them though," Anna remarked. "I'm sure the plants can sense something's different."

Bella just rolled her eyes. "I always though his Gym was a little too much, but I'll admit that it must have taken some skill to set up this elaborate of an ecosystem. But we're not here to compliment his Gym design. We're here to see if there's anything you can use to help find him, preferably before this pollen kills me.

"Let's take the slide," Anna suggested. "We can start from the bottom up."

"This tree is over five stories high-" Bella began, but realized she wasn't going to be able to change Anna's mind. "Fine. Let's take the slide." Kayla and Anna were the first to go down the wooden tube, followed by Bella. Kayla looked around at the screen of leaves that acted as the roof of the tube. She could have sworn she had seen a pair of eyes looking at her from the foliage.

"What kind of Pokemon does Chase keep here at the Gym?" Kayla asked.

"Well he has all the pre-evolutions of his main six," Anna explained. "That's the rule for Gym Leaders, you have to have a team depending on the number of badges your challenger has. Plus Chase takes in whatever Grass-types he can find, so that's a lot." They came out of the slide at the back of the tree. The plants had cleared away to a small meadow with a large pond. In the center of the meadow stood a massive Pokemon. It stood on four stocky brown legs and had a neck that stretched high up to the canopy of the smaller trees. Dangling from its chin was a bunch of ripe fruit. Four large, thick leaves stuck out from its back, and the girls quickly realized that they were wings.

"Tropius!" The Pokemon bellowed, stomping its feet and making the ground shake. They could see plenty of other Pokemon lined up around the meadow, watching it. Pre-evolutions of Chase's main team and a few more exotic Grass-types like Leavanny, Trevenant, and Tangela.

"What does it want?" Bella asked, now with Kayla and Anna. Tropius was looking towards the large pink flower at the top of the Gym.

"Chase isn't here right now," Anna explained to it, hoping it would listen. She was staring right in the Fruit Pokemon's eyes. "He's in trouble and-" The other Pokemon began to whisper and panic. "But we're going to get him back! We need your help though. Will you help us?"

Tropius smiled and nodded.

* * *

After crash-landing on the shore of Ogygia Island, the Gym Leaders plus Maggie had made their way to the to entrance of the prison. It looked more beat up than the rest of the prison, and Pika confirmed with a dark mood that this was where her bomb had gone off.

"So maybe whoever has him here is dead?" Grace suggested.

"Doubtful, then there'd be nothing to prevent him from escaping," Pika said. Her Dex buzzed. "It's Amanda, she pulled up a schematic of the penitentiary. Obviously the best place to look for him if he's here is in the cells. There's this floor, which has the basic cells, the floor above this one with the offices and temporary holding cells, the floor below this one with the medical bay, cafeteria, and rec. room, and finally the basement. That's where the maximum security and mentally deranged prisoners were held. There's bathrooms on the each floors, and showers on the bottom two. There's also a courtyard, the prison yard, and a small area of wilderness to the east. Needless to say, it's a pretty big place."

"See if Amanda can access an security footage and hook them up to our Dexes," Sam said. "Then I say we split up and look for him."

"Split up?" Maggie repeated. "Is that really a good idea?"

"We'll cover more ground that way," Sam pointed out. "And we'll split up into pairs. Pika can go with Grace, you go with Green, Jimmy can go with George, and I'll go with Pika. We'll go from the bottom to top floors in that order. Now lets move."

They made their ways to their respective floors. Pika, Grace, Green, and Maggie took a creepy staircase to the second floor and then went their separate ways. The second floor was a long hallway with five doors. Maggie walked up to the middle on and opened it. She walked inside.

"Looks like it's one of those holding cells," Maggie said. She turned back around and at that moment, the door slammed shut and locked itself. Green ran forward and tried to pry open the door. He could hear Maggie shouting and pounding on it from inside the cell.

"Maggie!" Green shouted. "Can you hear me?!" There was a muffled response. "I'm going to get you out, just wait."

Chloe smirked and silently crept up behind him. Setting her hand just an inch away from his neck, she began to concentrate. By the time her skin touched Green's she was ready. _You won't be able to save her. She's locked in and you have no key. Leave her to die. _Her hand was now wrapped around the back of Green's neck. _Now lets you and I take a walk- _Green spun around lifted Chloe up by her throat. The Psychic Trainer gasped and choked as she was lifted up higher.

"Who are you?!" Green roared, rage blinding his recognition.

"Don't remember me?" Chloe asked in a mocking yet strained voice. "That's too bad." She reached for her gun, but Green threw her against the wall and she slummed to the ground, knocked out. Green took a step back, his breathing heavy. Maggie was still pounding on the cell door.

"Maggie it's okay!" He yelled to her. "Just stay put, I'm going to get you out of here." He heard movement from behind the farthest door. "Just let me take care of something first." He ran to the furthest door and opened it up. It was the rec room, a large gymnasium with some weights and exercise equipment off to the side. Standing at the far end of the room was a familiar face in a ghostly white robe. "Heroi," Green said bitterly.

"Long time no see, Green," Heroi said with a smile. "How long's it been? Two years? I think the last time you spoke was when you denied my citizenship to the region!" His words were soaked with venom.

"We were in a rough time," Green replied. "You never applied after that, and I gladly would have accepted."

"It's a little too late for that," Heroi pointed out. "But it's okay, you learn a lot travelling from region to region as an assassin. New ways to kill people, new weapons, this one's my favorite." He pulled out a wickedly sharp katana. "Looted it off of an old man I was hired to kill in his home. My client was rivals with this man's antique business and I was allowed to take what I needed. So naturally I took just about everything. Since then it's been my weapon of choice. And tonight you'll die by its blade."

"Bold words for a man who's better friends with the dead than the living," Green said, activating his Hall of Fame.

ACTIVATING HALL OF FAME - WAYDRN - CODE 7185514 - KEEPER OF THE WAVES

Green stood in thick Spheal skin boots and light armor made from Gyarados scales. Octilery skin gloves gripped his trident tightly. A Carracosta-shell helmet sat atop his head.

"I admire your resourcefulness," Heroi remarked, "but doesn't the whole Water-type skin armor make you kind of a hypocrite." He charged at Green and slashed with his sword.

"Not when all of this armor is made from the skins and scales of fallen teammates," Green said. He blocked with his trident and pushed Heroi back. "Every piece reminds me of a friend I once knew that couldn't make it to this day and how it's my fault they aren't here." Heroi twisted out of the way and Green punched him in the face, making him stagger. Their weapons clashed again. "That way I never make those mistakes again."

"Poetic, but also really lame," Heroi commented. He ducked under Green's arm and ran for the other end of the room, sending out Cofagrigus. "Let's settle this the business way."

Green threw out Seismitoad. "Muddy Water!" Seismitoad belched out a wave of brown water at Cofagrigus.

"Oh bad show old chap!" The Ghost-type grunted as he was blasted by the water. Heroi recalled him and sent out Sableye. Green did the same and set out Crawdaunt. While the two Dark dual-types dueled, Heroi and Green resumed fighting.

"Who was that girl in the hall?!" Green asked as he slammed the butt end of his trident into Heroi's chest. "And who else is here?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Heroi coughed, kicking Green in the stomach and taking off. Green grabbed Heroi by his hood and threw him up and down to the ground. "While I've been keeping you busy, the others should be taking care of your friends. Green punched him in the jaw and took off to go get Maggie.

In his cell, Chase was sitting in a small folding chair at a table. Donny sat across from him and a bowl of soup sat in the middle of the two. Donny had been assigned to guard Chase and had brought him some food and a paper cup of water. Chase had used most of the water to cleaned the blood off of him and refused to touch the soup.

"You haven't had any food for three days," Donny said. "And you've barely had any water in that time. You'll need to keep your strength up and I promise this isn't poisoned."

"I brought my own food, thanks," Chase said in a hostile tone. He tore a small green disc out of a hidden pouch in his sleeve. Donny tense up as he put it in his mouth and began to chew. Chase blew outward and a large green blob expanded out of his mouth.

"It's gum?" Donny said in disbelief. The bubble popped and Chase began to chew again.

"A gum-like material of my own invention," Chase corrected. "But it serves the purpose of gum. What did you expect it to be?"

"I thought it was like a suicide pill or something," Donny replied.

Chase laughed. "Yeah no, I'm not dying here. It's a combination of plant matters that contain essential nutrients and its also treated to expand when in contact with water or saliva to get the maximum amount of food. With this, I could survive for days."

"Impressive," Donny whispered. They heard explosions and the sound of fighting. Chase looked at him. "Stay down, if you try and move past this table the guns will shoot you. I'm sure everything's fine." Chase sighed and sat back down.

"So what are you doing with all these guys?" Chase asked. "They all seem a lot older than you and you don't have the...you know...constant desire to almost kill me with every second."

"I'm just as much of the Fallen Four as the rest of them!" Donny said defensively. Chase raised an eyebrow. "Dammit, I wasn't supposed to tell you that. Just eat your stupid plant thing." By now it was the size of a volleyball and dripping with saliva. Chase seemed to be more interested in looking it and watching it grow than actually eating it. "Okay that's disgusting, can you please get rid of that?"

Chase shrugged. "Sure thing." He tilted back in his chair, kicking up the table and knocking Donny to the floor. He threw the glob of saliva and plant matter as hard as he could at the door. The guns picked up on his saliva and began firing at the glob. Chase jumped up and grabbed a small air vent, pulling it out from its spot in the ceiling. He swung hard, knocking out Donny and then jumping up again and scrambling through the shaft. The guns continued to fire at the door below as he crawled towards the nearest vent that led out to the hallway.

In the basement hallway, Pika and Grace were drawn to the sound of gunshots and were waiting for the shots to stop before they opened the door. "What do you thinks going on in there?" Pika asked.

"Not sure," Grace said. "But Chase might be in trouble."

Chase pulled out the vent that was just above the door to his cell. He could hear voices down below, clearly other members of the Fallen Four. It was probably best to get the drop on them. "AH!" He yelled, jumping down and swinging the vent cover.

"AH!" Screamed Pika and Grace as they dodged the vent cover.

"AH!" Chase screamed as he saw who it was.

"AH!" Screamed the girl as they saw who he was.

AHHHHHHHHHH!" Brittany screamed as she came charged at them with her stun gun.

"AH!" Everyone screamed.

* * *

Green and Maggie ran to the ground floor of the prison. "Retreat retreat!" He shouted. "We're not alone here!" He ran with Maggie down the rows of cells to an open area, the cafeteria. A horde of Psychic Pokemon were right behind them. Coming from the other three entrances into the cafeteria were the rest of the Gym Leaders, and George, each pair being chased by one of the Fallen Four and their team.

"We have you cornered!" Zane announced. "Our boss will be arriving in a mere hour to...speak with all of you. Then we'll go after whichever Gym Leaders aren't here right now, and I'm sure we'll be able to torture that information out of at least one of you."

They Gym Leaders were all forced into the center of the room. Green looked over and saw Chase. "You're okay," he said, relieved. Chase nodded weakly. There were several flashes of light and Chase's Pokemon emerged from their PokeBalls that Maggie had in her bag. They nuzzled up against their Trainer and quickly formed a protective barrier around him. Despite the grave situation they were all very much relieved. Cherrim even conjured up a Sunny Day to allow her to turn into her sunshine form.

"Yes yes, applaud your weakest member," Zane said sarcastically. "He would have been dead three times over if it weren't for sheer idiocy. But at least we're going to have a full set soon. Or maybe not. Bisharp, Guillotine!"

Bisharp's arm blades grew to a tremendous size and glowed bright white. He charged at Chase, aiming for his neck.

Crunch! Squish! Splurch!

"No..." Chase gasped as Bisharp's blades sliced through Gourgeist's pumpkin-shell, sending the pieces and insides to the ground. A small wisp of a spirit remained in the air, a sad expression on its face. It extended a small ghostly arm and waved to Chase and the other Pokemon before looking sadly at what used to be its body.

Zane shrugged. "Whoops, we missed. Like I said, all of your pain will be at my-" The wisp exploded into a blast of energy, knocking back Bisharp and making the prison shake.

"No. It won't," Chase said. "I'm making sure we all get back home. Now!" All six of his Pokemon, supercharged by the sunlight, fired separate Solarbeams at various walls and directly at the Fallen Four. Pieces of the ceiling and walls began to collapse around them. Everyone else added to the mix of attacks, hoping to weaken the structure of the prison itself. The fatal blow was when Jimmy's Garchomp and Flygon both used Earthquake, tearing down the prison. The Fallen Four had no choice but to retreat.

"Uh...guys," George said nervously. "Isn't this going to cause it to collapse on us too?"

"We came all this way and now we're just going to die?!" Pika asked. "Are you fucking serious?! No there has to be a way."

"Even if we survive we'll just be trapped under here with no food or water," Sam said glumly. Several large sections of ceiling were falling around them. CRASH! A large chunk of ceiling disintegrated as a blast of concertrated sunlight hit it. "What the-?

"TROPIUS!" Bellowed a gigantic Grass/Flying-type as it swooped down to meet the Gym Leaders, Maggie, and George. Sitting on its back were Anna, Kayla, and Bella.

"Amanda said the boat got destroyed and that you might need a lift," Anna called down from her spot on the Pokemon. "Hope on!" In a daze, Chase walked over to his Pokemon and was lifted up onto Tropius's back with the help of Venusaur. "What's wrong with him?"

"He lost something very important to him," Pika whispered as she climbed on to. Once everyone was safe and secure, Tropius took off. As they flew away from the island, they agreed to regroup at Forum Island. In a matter of seconds Ogygia Island faded back into the fog. Chase still hadn't said a word, but held his six Pokeballs tightly in his arms.

Green sighed. "We got him back, but at what cost?"

Maggie turned around to look at him. "He'll get better, let's just be happy he's safe." Green nodded. "I forgot to thank you for getting me out of that cell. I started to think you'd never come back for me."

"I got held up," Green said. "It's a long story."

Maggie smiled. "Well in any case, I'm thankful. And uh...I know it's a tad unprofessional given the circumstances, but I'd like to make it up to you by buying you some coffee or lunch or something."

Green laughed. "Are you seriously asking me out after we almost died? After all these questions we now need to answer?"

"Let me answer that question," Maggie decided. She grabbed Green's hair and pulled him in for a kiss. They stayed like that for an uncomfortable amount of time before separating. "Yes. Now let's just do what they do in movies and don't mention what just happened until after the ride is over."

"Fine by me," Green said as Maggie turned around, but he wasn't able to stop himself from smiling just a bit. Things were going to be fine. They wouldn't be the same, but they would be fine.

Elsewhere, underneath the ruins of Ogygia Island...

"How could you fail again?!" Brittany screamed at Heroi. Her hand gripped his neck, preventing him from getting off of the cold metal table. The dim lights of the run-down operating room flickered. "First you only kidnap one of the nine Gym Leaders, and then you let the rest of them break in and bust him out. Do you know what this means?!"

"That it's only two strikes out of three?" Heroi guessed, trying not to lose his cool. Brittany punched him with her other hand. He groaned in pain, blood flowing from his now broken nose.

"No you little shit," Brittany hissed. "That's two strikes too many. Obviously you're out of practice with your assassination skills. So Kinfez-y and are going to give you a crash course in human death."

Zane entered the operating room in a labcoat. He was grinning madly. "Dr. Zane, reporting for the operation."

Beads of sweat were beginning to gather on Heroi's forehead. "You guys are seriously going to kill me, now?! Then there will only be four of you against nine of them. You need all the help you can get."

Zane shrugged. "What's one less?" He spun a scalpel in his hand. Brittany began to tie Heroi down with the leather restraints.

"This is going to be _so_ much fun," she said with a wink. Heroi began to struggle madly, screaming for help.

"You can't do this!" He shouted. "My Pokemon-"

"Have already been taken care of," Zane interrupted. "It's surprising how easy it is to banish spirit-like Pokemon back to their own dimension. If I still had my medical license, I'd probably publish a theory on it." He leaned in close to Heroi. "But I guess that's not happening."

"What you going to do, _doctor_?" Brittany asked, seductively tracing a line up and down Zane's arm. Zane shook her off and rolled his eyes.

"It'll be the basic procedure. Evisceration, plus disembowelment, all without anesthesia of course. Can't spend unnecessary money," He laughed madly and looked down at a pale Heroi. "Don't worry though, I'm a doctor. So I can give you an expert guarantee that this will hurt a lot." Heroi continued to struggle. "Well I guess that means we need to get started." He raised the scalpel and brought it down swiftly.

Heroi's screams echoed through what was left of the prison, sending chills down Donny's spine even from the other floor. Maybe he should have asked him to be his new sparring partner.

* * *

**Woah, that was exhausting. But finally someone's dead, am I right? I know most of you have been waiting for it. Hope I was able to deliver XD Anyway, see you all next time.**

**As always, read and review :D**


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